{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1400279"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1400279/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1400279","accessionNumber":"S.753-2017","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"The Sleeping Princess","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Posed photograph by the Stage Photo Company of two of the Porcelain Princesses in black, white and gold costumes who appear in the fairy tale divertissement in Act 4/5 of the <i>Sleeping Princess</i> as performed by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1921.. The image in Schwabe’s collection was probably referenced for Schwabe’s illustration in part 2 of Cyril Beaumont’s Impressions of the Russian Ballet <i>The Sleeping Princess </i>(1921). The dance for the Mandarin and the Porcelain Princesses was described by Beaumont as ‘a pseudo Chinese dance based on the florid designs characteristic if Chinese lacquer. It was presented to the Danse Chinoise from Tchaikovsky’s <i>The Nutcracker</i>.\r\n<i>The Sleeping Princess</i> based on Marius Petipa’s<i> The Sleeping Beauty </i>(1890) at the Imperial Ballet in St Petersburg was mounted by Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes at the Alhambra, Leicester Square, London in 1921. It was a lavish production designed by Léon Bakst to fill the gap when the company had no ‘in house’ choreographer. Diaghilev had remote family links to composer Piotr Tchaikovsky and hopped that the production would become the 'crown' of his career. The production was set using Nicholas Sergeyev’s notation of the Mariinsky ballet but Diaghilev’s dancers were far fewer in number, the stage space was smaller and Bakst designed the set with different details and entrances so alterations needed to be made. Learning that Bronislava Nijinska had defected from the Soviet Union Diaghilev invited her to choreograph new dances and appear in the production. The leading roles and first act fairies were mostly performed by dancers trained by the Imperial Ballet but the corps de ballet came from numerous backgrounds. A commercial failure, Diaghilev had vastly overspent, and London audiences were not used to seeing a single ballet fill the whole programme it was never-the-less hugely influential on the development of ballet in Britain. \r\n","physicalDescription":"Photograph by the Stage Photo Company of the Porcelain Princesses in Act V of <i>The Sleeping Princess</i>, performed by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Stage Photo Company","id":"AUTH331560"},"association":{"text":"photographers","id":"AAT25687"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"photographic paper","id":"AAT14190"}],"techniques":[{"text":"photography","id":"AAT54225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Photographic paper","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Dance","id":"THES252984"},{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES356608"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Photographs","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":"Photographed on-stage at the Alhambra, Leicester Square"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1921","earliest":"1921-01-01","latest":"1921-12-31"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"28.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"23.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Photograph owned by Randolph Schwabe which provided the source material for an illustration in <i>Impressions of the Ballets Russes 12 The Sleeping Princess</i>.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph by the Stage Photo Company of the Porcelain Princesses in Act V of <i>The Sleeping Princess</i>, performed by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.753-2017"],"accessionNumberNum":"753","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2017,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2024NR9665"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-17","recordCreationDate":"2017-06-27","availableToBook":true}}