orig. Mikhail Mikhaylovich Fokine
born April 23, 1880, St. Petersburg, Russia
died Aug. 22, 1942, New York, N.Y., U.S.
Russian-born U.S. dancer and choreographer.
He trained at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg and debuted at the Mariinsky Theatre at age 18. Following his creation of The Dying Swan for Sergey Diaghilev in 1909 engaged Fokine at the {{link=Ballets Russes">Ballets Russes in Paris, where he choreographed works such as The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911), and Daphnis and Chloe (1912). In these ballets he strove for a greater dramatic and stylistic unity than had been previously known. He moved to New York City in 1923 and thereafter choreographed works for companies in the U.S. and Europe.
Fokine as Perseus in Medusa
By courtesy of the Dance Collection, the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations