Massine

Léonide Massine
Massine in a portrait by Léon Bakst, 1914
Native name	Леони́д Фёдорович Мя́син
Born	Leonid Fyodorovich Myasin (1896-08-09)9 August 1896 Moscow, Russian Empire
Died	15 March 1979(1979-03-15) (aged 82) Borken, West Germany
Occupation	Dancer, choreographer
Years active	1915–1948
Spouse(s)	Vera Savina (née Vera Clark) Eugenia Delarova Tatiana Orlova (div. 1968) Hannelore Holtwick
Children	Lorca, Tatiania, Peter, and Theodor
Awards	National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame, 2002

Leonid Fyodorovich Myasin (Russian: Леони́д Фёдорович Мя́син), better known in the West by the French transliteration as Léonide Massine (9 August [O.S. 28 July] 1896 – 15 March 1979), was a Russian choreographer and ballet dancer. Massine created the world's first symphonic ballet, Les Présages, and many others in the same vein. Besides his "symphonic ballets," Massine choreographed many other popular works during his long career, some of which were serious and dramatic, and others lighthearted and romantic. He created some of his most famous roles in his own comic works, among them the Can-Can Dancer in La Boutique fantasque (1919), the Hussar in Le Beau Danube (1924), and, perhaps best known of all, the Peruvian in Gaîté Parisienne (1938).

Leonid Fyodorovich Massine was born into a musical family on August 9th, 1895 in Moscow, Russia. His mother was a soprano in the Bolshoi Theater Chorus and his father played the French horn in the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra. Leonid was one of five children. He had three brothers named Mikhail, Gregori, and Konstantin – as well as one sister - Raissa. Due to their small age difference, Leonid and Konstantin were very close during childhood. Beginning when Leonid was seven, the Massine family spent most summers at their summer dacha in Zvenigorod-Moskovsky. In 1904, Leonid successfully auditioned for the Moscow Imperial Theater School. At only eight years old, he began his formal dance training. The next year, the director of the Bolshoi Theater, Alexander Gorsky, was looking for a small boy to play the role of Chernomor in the ballet Russlan and Ludmilla. Leonid was selected for the role. This performance and rehearsal period ignited his lifelong passion for acting. Leonid was selected for three more professional roles at the Bolshoi and Maly Theaters the 1908-1909 season. In 1909, Konstantin was killed during a hunting accident. Leonid was never able to fully recover from the shock and devastation of this personal tragedy. In August 1913, Massine graduated from the Moscow Imperial Theater School and almost immediately joined the Bolshoi Ballet. In December of the same year, Serge Diaghilev came to Moscow in search of a dancer for a new production of The Legend of Joseph. His lover, Vaslav Nijinsky, had originally been cast in the role, but Diaghilev had his contract terminated upon Nijinsky’s marriage to Romola de Pulszky. Diaghilev was attracted to Massine’s onstage presence and acting, and invited him to audition for the choreographer, Mikhail Fokine. After the audition in St. Petersburg, Massine joined Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes.