Sergei Mikhailovich Lifar

Sergei Lifar (1961)

Lifar's grave in the Russian cemetery of Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois near Paris

Sergei Lifar (Ukrainian postage stamp from 2004)

Serhiy Mychajlowytsch Lyfar (also in the French form of Serge Lifar , Ukrainian Сергій Михайлович Лифар , Serge Lifar Russian Сергей Михайлович Лифарь ; April * 2 ^{. Jul} / 15. April  1904 ^greg. In Kiev , Russian Empire , now Ukraine ; † 15 December 1986 in Lausanne ) was a Ukrainian-French dancer and choreographer . He is considered one of the great dance stars of the 1930s and 1940s. He belonged to the generation of Russian artists who not only brought fame to Russia and France, but also helped shape the further development of ballet worldwide.

Lifar, son of a civil servant, did not begin ballet until he was 16 years old. In 1920 he attended the ballet classes of Bronislava Nijinska at the Opera Ballet in Kiev. When Nijinska left Russia in 1921 and danced again with Sergei Dyagilev's Ballets Russes in Paris , he followed her and joined Dyagilev's ensemble in 1923, first as a dancer and later as a choreographer. There he took further ballet lessons with Nicholas Legat and Enrico Cecchetti .

Since 1932 Lifar has staged the ballets of the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev .

Today there is the Serhiy Lyfar dance competition in Kiev .

Works

• Lifar, Sergej: Djagilev is Djagilevym. Dom knigi. Paris 1939
• Lifar, S .: Serge Diaghilev, His Life, His Work, His Legend: An Intimate Biography. New York 1940
• Lifar, S .: Auguste Vestris. Le Dieu de la Danse. Paris 1950
• Lifar, S .: Histoire du Ballet Russe. Paris 1950
• Lifar, S .: Traité de Chorégraphie. Bordas 1952
• Lifar, Serge: A History of Russian Ballet. London 1954
• Lifar, Serge: Les Mémoires d'Icare. Paris 1993

literature

• Obituary in the New York Times

Web links

Commons : Serge Lifar  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Pictures by Sergei Michailowitsch Lifar In: Virtual History