Stanislas Idzikowski (1894 – 12 February 1977) was a Polish dancer and ballet master, active in England, and with such historic companies as Pavlova's, Ballets Russes, and Vic-Wells. During his performance career, 1910-1933, he became famous for his brilliant classical technique, and for the development of ballet roles. With Beaumont he co-authored an influential book on the Cecchetti Method, still in print. He later taught dance in London.
His start in ballet: Warsaw to London Born in Warsaw Stanisław Idzikowski at the age of ten began his formal dance training, at the ballet school of the Wielki Theatre in his native city.Beaumont (1926), p.1. Inspired seeing a Tchaikovsky ballet, he sought ballet school. His father was a sculpture. Among his early instructors was the Italian dancer and teacher Enrico Cecchetti, who would later prove important for his professional life.Koegler (1977). p.269 (Idzikowski: Teatr Wielki, Cecchetti), p.110 (Cecchetti: moves to Teatr Wielki in 1902)."Enrico Cecchetti" at Cecchetti website: at Teatro Wielki 1902-1905. He also studied with Stanislav Gilbert and ."Stanislas Idzidkowski" at Cecchetti website: teachers. Auguste Berger a Bohemian then instructed him which led to his stage debut in Ali Baba, a ballet divertissement.Related perhaps to the opéra bouffe Ali Baba by Charles Lecocq.
When Idzikowski was sixteen, he relocated to England, and Anglicized his given name Stanisław to Stanislas. His performing career in London's West End then began, doing musical and ballet productions, e.g., The Belle of New York in 1911. He danced in the touring company of Russian ballet star Anna Pavlova in 1912. He traveled to Lausanne in 1914 where he met the impresario Sergei Diaghilev. Cecchetti then recommended him for the Ballets Russes; he soon became a leading dancer.Beaumont (1926), pp. 1-2: Berger, debut, London, Belle, Pavlova, Diaghilev, Cecchetti. The company then left to tour America.Oxford Reference: Cecchetti, London's Empire Theatre 1911, Pavlova 1912, Kosloff 1913, Ballets Russes 1914.Garafola (1998), Wielki, Cecchetti, Anglicized name, West End, Ballets Russes."Stanislas Idzikowski" at Cecchetti website: re Pavlova, Ballets Russes.
In Diaghilev's Ballets Russes
A small, muscular man, Idzikowski had developed a strong classical ballet technique and was capable of performing virtuosic feats.Beaumont (1926), pp. 2, 4 (technique). With the Diaghilev company, he first assumed roles made famous by Vaslav Nijinsky,Oxford Reference: "Though unusually short he was a dazzling virtuoso with an extraordinary jump, and took over many of Nijinski's roes... ."Garafola (2005): Léonide Massine was also a "a replacement for Nijinsky" (p.60). Massine the dancer "took over Nijinsky's roles in Petrouchka, Cléopâtra, Schéhérazade, and L'Après-midi d'un Faune" (p. 185). its former star performer and a world celebrity.Moore (2014), p.5: "Vaslav Nijinsky, possibly the greatest genius of twentieth century dance".Cf. Nijinska (1981), pp. 472-487: Nijinsky's departure from Ballets Russes in 1913. Thus, in choreographer Michel Fokine's ballets Idzikowski danced: the role of Harlequin in Le Carnaval; in Petrushka, the title role; and in Le Spectre de la Rose, the Spirit.Beaumont (1926), p.2: Idzikowski's first roles at Ballets Russes: Carnaval, Petrushka, Rose.Stanislas Idzikowski at Cecchetti website: his roles.Balanchine (1954), per Nijinsky's roles in Le Carnaval p.79, Petrouchka p.268, Le Spectre de la Rose p.356.
Yet their interpretive approach could differ. As Harlequin, Nijinsky expressed a "spirit of subtle mockery and cynical worldly wisdom". While Idzikowski, according to Beaumont, danced the part with a "mischievous certainty, but always good natured".Beaumont (1926), p.3 (quotes per Harlequin in Le Carnaval).
These roles "previously seemed the particular property of that great genius Nijinsky. Few things are more unnerving to a dancer than to execute a dance which the public is accustomed to see performed by someone else."Beaumont (1926), p.2 (quote per Nijinsky).David Adams: At first many saw Idzikowski as "the understudy to Nijinsky, but [he] was as good, in every way, as the great man himself."
Idzikowshi was particularly celebrated for his phenomenal elevation and dazzling batterie.Beaumont (1926), pp. 2, 4, 5: classical ballet technique.Oxford Reference: technique.Grant (1950, 1982), elevation p.45 ("the height attained in springing steps [jumps]"), batterie pp. 22-23 ("legs beat together, or one leg beats against the other"), beats p.23 ("during a jump by striking the calves sharply together"). As before him Cecchetti in 1890, and Nijinsky in 1907, Idzikowski in 1921 performed as the Blue Bird in the pas de deux from The Sleeping Beauty of Tchaikovsky.Balanchine (1954), pp. 336-354: The Sleeping Beaty; at p.353: Nijinsky in 1911 in the pas de deus [as the Blue Bird]; at 336, 475: Idzikowski as Blue Bird in London 1921; at 348: the Blue Bird role.Nijinska (1982), pp. 207-210: Nijinsky as Blue Bird in 1907 at Maryinsky Theatre, Sankt-Peterberg; Cecchetti as Blue Bird in 1890.Beaumont (1926), p.4: Idzikowski and La Belle au Bois Dormant, p. 3: La Princesse Echantée.Garafola (1989), pp. 342-344, at 343 (Lydia Lopokova and Idzikowski in The Sleeping Princess), cf. pp. 408-409.Greskovic (2000), p.71, the 1890 choreography for Cecchetti's Blue Bird was likely devised by the dancer-teacher himself." Cf. 291-292, 425. "[His] most famous role was the Blue Bird in The Sleeping Princess of 1921" premiering in London.Koegler (1977), quote.
Possessed of a strong sense of comedy and drama, he also became known for the character roles he created in the ballets of Léonide Massine, including the role of the Cat in Kikimora (1916), Battista in Les Femmes de Bonne Humeur (1917), the Spark (Dandy) in Le Tricorne (1919), the Snob in La Boutique Fantasque (1919),Massine (1968), pp. 135-136. The choreographer Massine provides this description of a scene from the ballet La Boutique Fantasque where toys come to life. Idzi played the 'snob':
"When he was given a slice of melon, Idzikowski, in a brilliant extempore piece of miming, ate it as if playing on a mouth-organ. To shatter his conceit I made the melon-seller knock him over with the barrow, but springing into the air, he came to rest with a bow and one hand raised to twirl his mustache."Balanchine (1954), p.58, describes the same scene in another version: a melon hawker slices a piece for the snob who soon "trips over the hawker, only to rise again in a mechanical miracle." and Corviello in Pulcinella (1920).Beaumont (1926), pp. 3-5 (the five ballet roles).Garafola (1989), pp. 406-408 (the five ballets, plus The Sleeping Princess). Kikimora in 1917 incorporated into Contes Russes (p.406) aka Children's Tales (p.336).Oxford Reference (the five ballets). Among his other original roles was the Cock on his perch in Le Renard (1923), choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska.Baer (1986), p.74 (Le Renard, music by Igor Stravinsky), cf. pp. 29-30. For Ballets Russes' Les Fâcheux (1924), "Stanislas Idzikowski the bravura dancer [was] cast by Nijinska as Lysandre the dancing master." Yet because a dispute arose over the costume's wet dye, Diaghilev asked Nijinska to dance this amusing character, originally created by Molière (Baer, p.41).Garafola (1989), p.409: Nijinska as the Fox, Idzikowski as the Cock, in Le Renard (1923).
Having briefly left Ballets Russes in 1924, Idzikowski in 1925 rejoined the company.Oxford Reference. He and Lydia Lopokova left He danced with Alexandra Danilova in its production of Jack in the Box, with music by the late Erik Satie, choreography by George Balanchine.Koegler (1977), p.277: Jack in the Box.Garafola (1989), p.409: "Jack in the Box" with Danilova and Idzikowski.The Balanchine Catalogue website. He created the role of the Puppet.Kochno (1970), p.243, Jack in the Box. When Sergei Diaghilev unexpectedly died in 1929, however, the ballet world lost not only the gifted impresario, but also his company as "the Ballets Russes collapsed".Garafola (1989), pp. 157 (quote). Diaghilev's death caught the company "unawares" and resulted in its "demise" (p.376).Koegler (1977), p. 50: For 20 years Diaghilev led "the ballet of his time in all its forms, until his death in 1929, after which [his] company dissolved."
Soirées de Paris, Vic-Wells, other posts
In 1924, both on leave from Ballets Russes, Idzikowski appeared with his frequent dance partner Lydia Lopokova at the London Coliseum.Oxford Preference: "He left the [Ballets Russes] company in 1924 to dance with Lopokova at the Coliseum and with Comte de Beaumont's ‘Soirées de Paris’."The New York Times obituary: paired with Lopokova.Cf., Garafola (1989), p.216: Coliseum. She also was drawn to Soirées de Paris, a new dance enterprise organized by Étienne de Beaumont.A Beaumont different from the co-author of Cecchetti book. It was a potential competitor of Diaghilev. "Artistic considerations" caused Lopokova to respond "with enthusiasm to Massine's offer of a place in his new company." Idzikowski also signed. Massine at Soirée de Paris wrote choreography for new ballets, including Mercure. Picasso designed decor. Staged in Paris, it was the Soirée's first and only season.Garafola (2005), pp. 171 (quotes), 172 ("Stas", too), 173-178 (Massine), 175, 176, 177 ("Stas"). Soirées de Paris was similar to Ballets Suédois, both being newly founded competitors of Ballets Russes (pp. 171, 177).Kochno (1970), pp. 256-257 (re Mercure). Though friends Diaghilev looked on "Beaumont as a rival". Besides his closest collaborators, "The leading dancers of the new company were Lopoukhova and Idzikowski and the ballet master was Massine, all deserters from his own group" (.p.256). Soirées was short-lived; Mercure then entered Diaghilev's repertoire (p.257).Massine (1968), pp. 158-160, 162. For Soirées de Paris, Massine wrote five ballets (p.158), including Mercure (p,159-160). He fails to mention competition with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.Koegler (1977), p.491: Les Soirées de Paris of 1924.
"As a guest artist with the Vic‐Wells Ballet in the early 1930s, Mr. Idzikowski lent the prestige of his name to the struggling young company that is now Britain's Royal Ballet."The New York Times obituary: quote re Vic-Wells.Oxford Reference: Idikowski as 'guest artist' at Vic-Wells. He developed the lead male role in Les Rendezvous, a ballet-divertissement choreographed by Ashton, mounted in 1933. "The leading pair of 'lovers' was performed by Alicia Markova and Stanislas Idzikowski."Grekovic (2000), p.88 (quote re Les Rendezvous).Balanchine (1954), pp. 309-310: Markova and Idzikowski.Koegler (1977), p.439: Idzikowski in Les Rendezvous. The Vic-Wells company was directed by de Valois, an 'alumnus' of Ballets Russes.Garafola (1989), pp. 376-377: Diaghilev alumni. For Vic-Wells, Idzikowski also performed his well-known Blue Bird role in the revised, one-act Aurora's Wedding, and his Harlequin in Carnaval.David Adams, "Stanislas Idzikowski".Cf., Baer (1986), pp. 28, 29: Nijinska's 1922 choreography of the one-act ballet Aurora's Wedding from the five-act The Sleeping Princess.
From 1928 to 1930 Idzikowski had managed and directed his own ballet company.Oxford Reference: Stanislas Idzikowski. He later associated with the commercial production of films: The Gods Go a-Begging (1934),Cf., Koegler (1977), p.224. Carnival (1935), and Peg of Old Drury (1935).Stanislas Idzikowski at IMDb (3 films). For several years starting in 1939, Idzikowski served as ballet master for Mona Inglesby's International Ballet.The Independent obituary: Mona Inglesby.
Book with Beaumont on Cecchetti