Серж Лифарь: Жизнь и творчество русского танцовщика и хореографа

Russian ballet dancer

Serge Lifar (, Serhіy Mуkhailovуch Lуfar) (15 April 1905 [O. S. 2 April 1905] 15 December 1986) was a Russian dancer and choreographer, and one of the greatest male ballet dancers of the 20th century. Lifar was also a choreographer, director, writer, theoretician about dance, and collector. As ballet master of the Paris Opera from 1930 to 1944, and from 1947 to 1958, he devoted himself to the restoration of the technical level of the Paris Opera Ballet, returning it to its place as one of the best companies in the world.

Lifar was born in Kyiv, Russian Empire. His year of birth is officially shown as 1904 (as on a 2004 Ukrainian stamp commemorating his centenary). He became the pupil of Bronislava Nijinska in her ballet studio «School of Movement» in Kyiv, 1920. In 1921 he left occupied by russian troops Kyiv and was noticed by Sergei Diaghilev, who sent him to Turin in order to improve his technique with Enrico Cecchetti.

He made his debut at the Ballets Russes in 1923, where he became the principal dancer in 1925. Lifar was considered the successor to Nijinsky in the Ballets Russes.

At the death of Diaghilev in 1929, Lifar at the age of 24 was invited by Jacques Rouché to take over the directorship of the Paris Opéra Ballet, which had fallen into decline in the late 19th century. Lifar gave the company a new strength and purpose, initiating the rebirth of ballet in France, and began to create the first of many ballets for that company. The sixth and seventh positions were not Lifar's inventions, but revivals of positions that already existed in the eighteenth century, when there were ten positions of the feet in classical ballet; and their use is limited to Lifar's choreographies. During his three decades as director of the Paris Opéra Ballet, Lifar led the company through the turbulent times of World War II and the German occupation of France. Lifar was a collaborationist under the occupation. Lifar's postwar trial resulted in his condemnation as a collaborator and his suspension from the national stage. During his absence, Balanchine was hired to replace him. Returning to his former position, Lifar's presence was vehemently opposed by the Opera stagehands with the result that he was not allowed to appear on stage nor to consult with technical staff directly on any productions. Nevertheless, he brought the Paris Opéra Ballet to America and performed to full houses at the New York City Center despite protests. Audiences were enthusiastic and had great admiration for the company of dancers. The duel was conducted in front of 50 newspaper photographers and ended with the two combatants in tears and embraces in what The New York Times wrote "what may well have been the most delicate encounter in the history of French dueling," with the sole injury being a cut on Lifar's right forearm in the seventh minute. In 1977 the Paris Opéra Ballet devoted a full evening to his choreography.

He died in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 15 December 1986, aged 81, and was buried in Sainte Geneviève des Bois Russian Cemetery.

Editions Sauret published his memoirs, titled Les Mémoires d'Icare, posthumously in 1993. The title references one of his greatest roles in the ballet Icare. "The story of the ballet is based on the ancient Greek myth of Icarus, whose father Daedalus builds him a pair of artificial wings. Disobeying his father's orders, Icarus flies too close to the sun, which melts the wax in his wings and causes him to plunge to his death." In 2012, jewels from the Countess' estate were auctioned at Sotheby's, with the proceeds going to the foundation. In the summer of 1994 the First Lifar International Ballet Contest was held on the stage of the National Ukraine Opera. The Sixth Lifar International Ballet Competition was held in April 2006 and the seventh in Donetsk in March–April 2011.

Anna Pavlova, film by Emil Loteanu; portrayed by Igor Sklyar (1983).