- Creator
- Lifar, Serge, 1905-1986
- Call number
- (S) *MGZMD 77
- Physical description
- 51 items in 11 folders, in 1 document size box
- Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Serge Lifar Letters to Serge Diaghilev, *MGZMD 77, Dance Collection. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
- Repository
- Jerome Robbins Dance Division
- Access to materials
- Request an in-person research appointment.
Serge Lifar, dancer, choreographer and author, was born in Kiev, Russia in 1905. He studied with Bronislava Nijinska, who brought him to Paris in 1923 where he joined Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. He became a protege of Diaghilev, was named premiere danseur in 1925, and remained with the company through it s last season in 1929. These letters were written by Lifar toDiaghilev when Lifar was 19 to 23 years old. Sotheby's described the contents of the collection: "The letters are in Russian and are about Lifar's education in Italy, supervised by Diaghilev, and his ballet studies including his lessons with Enrico Cecchetti in Turin, reporting Ceccehtti's changes in his arm movements... his problems with his hands, consultations with doctors, his attempts to learn French, his visits to Florence, Fiesole, Milan and...Venice, his impressions on seeing the works of Raphael, Botticelli, Mantegna, and Michelangelo... his relationship with Diaghilev...his opinions of other dancers ... his own performances...(Tricorne)... [and] rehearsals for Zephyr et Flore and The Triumph of Neptune..."
Administrative information
Source of acquisition
Processing information
Processed by Henley Haslam; machine-readable finding aid created by Catherine Johnson.
Key terms
Names
Subjects
Using the collection
Box/folder
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.Location
Jerome Robbins Dance DivisionNew York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Alternative form available
Available on microfilm; New York Public Library; call number *ZBD-565