Ballet Russe dancers in 1957. (From the USC Digital Library's Los Angeles Examiner Negatives Collection.)
Materials from the USC Libraries' Special Collections are on display this week at an exhibit on Russian Ballet at the Anaheim MUZEO. The exhibition celebrates Russian ballet and features unique artifacts and documents from the libraries' Grell/Colefax Russian Ballet Archive. Three costumes from the world-renowned Bolshoi Ballet are on display, as well as rare photographs of Russian ballet productions.
Founded in 1776, the Moscow-based Bolshoi Ballet is one of the world's most important dance companies. Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake made its world premiere at the Bolshoi Theater in 1877, and during the Cold War the company captivated audiences around the world with lavish productions. Los Angeles resident Dwight Grell, who donated the items to the libraries and is the honored guest at this week's exhibition, made several trips to the Soviet Union to photograph and film the Russian dancers.
The exhibition is a part of the 2010 Anaheim International Dance Festival, organized by the Anaheim Ballet dance company. Visit the Anaheim Ballet website to learn more about the festival, which also includes a screening of the 2005 documentary Ballets Russes. For information on seeing the dance materials in person, see the Anaheim MUZEO website.