1905–1986
Serge Lifar
Paris Opera dancer and choreographer
A Kyiv-born ballet dancer and choreographer who led the Paris Opera Ballet for more than a quarter of a century. He created more than 200 ballets and became one of the founders of the neoclassical trend in choreography.
Key accomplishments
- Soloist of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes (1923–1929)
- Chief ballet master and artistic director of the Paris Opera Ballet (1930–1944, 1947–1958)
- More than 200 ballets and choreographic works, including On the Dnieper (1932), Icare (1935) and Suite en blanc (1943)
- Founded the Institute of Choreography at the Paris Opera (1947)
Who he was
Serhii (Serge) Lifar was born in 1905 (according to other sources, 1904) in Pyrohiv, then a suburb of Kyiv. He studied at the Kyiv Conservatory, and in 1921 he joined Bronislava Nijinska’s ballet studio. In 1923 he moved to France and became a soloist of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.
His story
After Diaghilev’s death in 1929, Lifar was invited to the Paris Opera. He led its ballet in 1930–1944 and 1947–1958, working as its leading soloist, choreographer and teacher. Lifar created more than 200 ballets and choreographic works, among them On the Dnieper (1932), Icare (1935) and Suite en blanc (1943). He is regarded as the founder of the neoclassical trend in choreography. In 1947 he founded the Institute of Choreography at the Opera, and from 1955 he taught the history and theory of dance at the Sorbonne. In 1961 he was able to visit his native Kyiv.
Debates and assessments
During the German occupation of Paris (1940–1944) Lifar remained head of the ballet of the Opera, which operated under the control of the occupation authorities, and he maintained contacts with German officials. After the liberation of France he was accused of collaboration. In 1945 the purge (“épuration”) committee condemned him and suspended him from French stages for a year. In 1944–1947 he led the Nouveau Ballet de Monte-Carlo company, and in 1947 he returned to Paris.
Assessments differ. His supporters point out that he was given no severe punishment and again led the Opera’s ballet. The dance scholar Mark Franko, after studying the archives, has raised again the question of his cooperation with the occupation authorities and of his political views.
Why it matters today
Lifar transformed 20th-century European ballet. Since 1994 Kyiv has hosted the Serge Lifar International Ballet Competition for ballet dancers and choreographers.
