Léonide Massine
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Leonid Fyodorovich Myasin or Léonide Massine (August 9 1896 Moscow – March 15 1979 Cologne) was a Russian choreographer and ballet dancer. He studied at the Bolshoi Theatre school in Moscow. From 1915 to 1921 he was the principal choreographer of the Les Ballets Russes de Diaghilev. Following the departure of Vaslav Nijinsky, the company's first male star, Massine became the preeminent male star and took over Nijinsky's roles.
After the death of Diaghilev, and the supposed death of the Ballets Russes, Massine helped revitalize the world of ballet by his involvement with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.
Massine appeared in the two Powell and Pressburger ballet films: The Red Shoes (1948) and The Tales of Hoffmann (1951); and in Powell's later Luna de Miel (1959).
He died at the age of 82 in Cologne, West Germany.
