Liturgy by Leonide Massine and Liturgy by Olga Tsvetkova: In Search of Historical and Cultural Dialogue

Abstract

The article is devoted to studying the reasons for the historical and cultural connection between Leonide Massine’s unstaged ballet Liturgy, which was conceived by him together with Sergei Diaghilev, and the production of the Liturgy ballet shown in 2023 at the Zaryadye concert hall in Moscow. The creators of the new Liturgy ballet, choreographer Olga Tsvetkova and composer Sergei Akhunov, directly point to Massine’s Liturgy as a source of inspiration and highlight the personal need to reflect on the divine principle in art. The article cites a number of sources documenting the three‐year long staging process of Liturgy at the beginning of the 20th century (1914–1916), as well as the sources characterizing Leonid Massine’s creative style and the penchant for religious themes in his record of accomplishment as a choreographer. The issues of the sacred also concern Olga Tsvetkova, a contemporary Russian choreographer. The reason for her interest in the material of Liturgy may be connected with an attempt to understand the sources of inspiration and ethical selfregulation in the process of working with religious themes of artistic culture and establish the artistic reception with the Ballets Russes project.

Keywords

• s.p. diaghilev’s ballets russes
• leonide massine
• igor stravinsky
• annunciation
• russian contemporary dance
• contemporary music