The One and Only

THE ONE AND ONLY: THE BALLET RUSSE DE MONTE CARLO tells the story of one of America's most important and now neglected ballet companies. Alexandra Danilova, Frederic Franklin, Alicia Markova, Mia Slavenska, Nathalie Krassovska, Tamara Toumanova, Andre Eglevsky, Leon Danielian, Ruthanna Boris, Maria Tallchief, Alicia Alonso, Igor Youskevitch, and Nina Novak were among the stars who led the company on its grueling tours of American cities, great and small. For more than two decades it pioneered the appreciation of ballet throughout the United States, becoming one of the most beloved companies in history. The Ballet Russe was founded in 1938 by Sergei J. Denham and Léonide Massine, who choreographed for it Gaite Parisienne, Seventh Symphony, Saint Francis, Rouge et Noir, and, in collaboration with Salvador Dali, the controversial Bacchanale and Labyrinth. It made Agnes de Mille famous with Rodeo and brought George Balanchine back from Broadway to create Danses Concertantes, Night Shadow, and Raymonda. Other choreographers included Frederick Ashton, Bronislava Nijinska, Ruth Page, and Valerie Bettis. Like thousands of other dance lovers, noted critic Jack Anderson was introduced to ballet by the Ballet Russe. Here are accounts of the "Ballet Wars" in London and New York, and the controversies over Massine's symphonic ballets and Balanchine s abstract works. Here, too, are stories of the rigors and excitement of touring, the life back-stage, the personalities who provided the backbone of this trailblazing company. Drawing on interviews with many of its dancers, newspaper reviews, and company files, this chronicle of the Ballet Russe helps fill in the story of how American ballet grew up. The Ballet Russe pioneered the use of American choreographers in an international company. It was the first to include a work by a modern dancer in a ballet company. It was the first touring ballet troupe to hire a black dancer. The One and Only is the story of how a great Russian-French ballet company became an American institution. JACK ANDERSON has written extensively on ballet and modern dance for the New York Times, Dance Magazine and Ballet Review, and is the New York correspondent for The Dancing Times of London. For thirty years he was also co-editor of Dance Chronicle. His books include Dance, Choreography Observed, Ballet and Modern Dance: A Concise History, The American Dance Festival, The Nutcracker, Art Without Boundaries: The World of Modern Dance, an international history of modern dance, and ten books of poetry. He first saw the Ballet Russe in his native Milwaukee on 21 January 1950, when Danilova and Franklin danced Coppelia.