Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev (1872-1929) was a famous theatrical and artistic worker, impresario, founder of the Ballet Russes and Diaghilev’s Ballet.

The Ballets Russes  was a ballet company consisting of Russian ballet dancers and opera singers (1908-1929) organized by Diaghilev abroad (in Paris since 1908, in London since 1912, and in other countries in 1915). The main activity was the ballet art.  Operas were staged seldom and mainly before 1914. The Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet was based in the Monte Carlo Opera House, Monaco.

After the triumph of the first Ballets Russes in Paris  Diaghilev received invitations from English impresarios. The first of the Ballets Russes took place in England on June 26, 1911 and was dedicated to the coronation of George V. During the period of 1911 to 1914 Great Britain saw six Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. English magnates Joseph and Thomas Beacham and Lady Ripon initiated the Ballets Russes. Diaghilev’s ballets had a stunning success among the British people. The British public began to look at ballet in a different way. That time operas were prevailing in London theaters. Ballet no longer attracted attention of the English public and was performed only in music-halls. Queen Alexandra and her sister Empress Mariya Alexandrovna were present at the Ballets Russes. 

Diaghilev’s ballets and separate performances in music-halls in England at the beginning of the XX century helped to form an English national ballet school.