Ida Rubinstein Ballet Company 1928-1934


Ida Rubinstein in
Maurice Ravel's Bolero 1928
Jpeg by M. Evans from scan of P.D. image


Date Unknown
Andros on Ballet


Detail of Le Ballets Ida Rubinstein
Program from 1928 Season
Jpeg by M. Evans from scan of P.D. image
After three years of producing and starring in dramas, Rubinstein took the bold step of forming her own Ballet company to showcase her talents. She commissioned just over a dozen new pieces and revived Stravinsky's Firebird.


Ida Rubinstein in Le Princesse Cygne 1928
Gif by M. Evans from scan of P.D. image

Repertoire of Les Ballets Ida Rubinstein
Bronislava Nijinska, Artistic Director and Choreographer
Chief Designer: Alexandre Benois
La Valse -- Music by Maurice Ravel
Bolero -- Music by Maurice Ravel
David & Goliath -- Liberetto by Andre Dodoret, Music by Henri Sarguet, Choreography by Leonide Massine
Alcine -- Music by Georges Auric, Choreography by Leonide Massine
La Bien-Aimee -- Music by Franz Schubert & Franz Liszt, orchestrated by Darius Milhaud
Le Baiser de la Fee -- Music by Igor Stravinsky
Psyche et L'Amour -- Johaan Sebastian Bach, orchestrated by M. Arthur Honegger
Le Princesse Cygne -- Original story by Pushkin, Music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (from Tsar Saltan)
Nocturne -- Music by Alexander Borodin
The Firebird (L'Oiseau de Feu) -- Music by Igor Stravinsky, Choreography by Mikhael Fokine
Other Dancers: Anatole Vilzak, Ludmilla Schollar, Nina Verchina, David Lichine, Fredrick Ashton, Joyce Berry, Alexis Dolinoff, Rupert Donne, Nadeja Nikolaeva, Eugen Lapitsky, Unger Singayyevsky, William Chappell
Vicki Woolf

Venues: Paris Opera House (1928), Theatre de Monte Carlo (1929), La Scala in Milan (1929), Vienna Opera House (1929), Covent Garden in London (1931) along with the premiere of Amphion -- Liberetto by Paul Valery, Choreography by Massine, Music by Honegger, plus the drama La Dame Aux Camielias, and a revival of Le Martyre de St.Sebastien.

Later Dances
Persephone (1934) -- Liberetto by Andre Gide, Music by Igor Stravinsky, Choreography by Kurt Jooss;
Semiramis (1934) -- Liberetto by Paul Valery, Music by M. Arthur Honegger, Choreography by Mikhael Fokine;
Diane de Portiers (1934) -- Liberetto by Elizabeth deGramont, Music by Jacques Ibert;

April 30 to May 21, 1934 -- Persephone, Diane de Portiers, Semiramis, and La Valse at the Paris Opera House: Ida Rubinstein's final performances as a dancer in Paris. She and her company represent France at the 1934 Salzburg Festival in Austria. January 27, 1936 -- Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Belgium: Ida Rubinstein's final performances as a dancer in Persephone, Semiramis, and Diane de Portiers, as part of a charity event for Russian exiles.
Vicki Woolf & Michael de Cossart