Serge Lifar and the Issue of Collaboration with the German Authorities under the Occupation of Paris (1940-1949)
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2016
- handle: 10670/1.h1x1wz
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Mark Franko, « Serge Lifar and the Issue of Collaboration with the German Authorities under the Occupation of Paris (1940-1949) », Vingtième Siècle. Revue d’histoire, ID : 10670/1.h1x1wz
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This article examines the political and artistic activities of dancer and choreographer Serge Lifar at the Paris Opéra both during and immediately after the occupation of Paris. Although Lifar was eventually cleared of all charges of collaborationism with the German authorities after the war, accusations of collaboration re-emerged following the rehabilitation of his aesthetic by the Paris Opéra and a number of other dance companies. Using archival materials usually ignored by dance scholars, this article examines Lifar’s political activities, convictions, and ambitions. His theory of ballet as set forth in La Danse : les grands courants de la danse académique (Dance: Main Currents of Academic Dance, 1938) and one of his popular ballets during that period, Joan de Zarissa (1942), are analysed from the perspective of his politics.