Ludwig Kainer
Tamara Karsavina in the “Polovtsian Dances”
undated
Lithograph, hand-colored
John Neumeier Foundation, Hamburg
In addition to classical dances, the Ballets Russes also had pieces with folkloric elements in their repertoire. The “Polovtsian Dances” to music by Alexander Borodin (1833–1887) originated in the opera “Prince Igor,” and Fokine (1880–1942) had reworked them into a ballet in its own right.