An ode to the revolutionary twentieth-century dance troupe known as the Ballet Russes. What began as a group of Russian refugees who never danced in Russia became not one but two rival dance troupes who fought the infamous "ballet battles" that consumed London society before World War II. It maps th

An ode to the revolutionary twentieth-century dance troupe known as the Ballet Russes. What began as a group of Russian refugees who never danced in Russia became not one but two rival dance troupes who fought the infamous "ballet battles" that consumed London society before World War II. It maps the company's Diaghilev-era in turn-of-the-century Paris--when artists such as Nijinsky, Balanchine, Picasso, Miro, Matisse, and Stravinsky united in an unparalleled collaboration--to its halcyon days of the 1930s and '40s, when the Ballets Russes toured America, astonishing audiences schooled in vaudeville with artistry never before seen, to its demise in 1950s and '60s when rising costs, rocketing egos, outside competition, and internal mismanagement ultimately brought this revered company to its knees.