Mikhail Mordkin - ’Aziade’, Perfumed Exoticism Reminiscent of the First Era Ballets Russes

This is film of Mikhail Mordkin (1880-1944), Bolshoi Theatre and Ballets Russes principle dancer, in a ballet of his own devising called ’Aziade’, based upon a tale from the Arabian Nights. The ballerina here is Margarita Froman. The scenario trades on the huge appeal of the perfumed exoticism of early Ballets Russes ballets like ’Scheherazade’ (1910). As such, it gives a perhaps tantalizing idea of what an early production of that company may have looked like, particularly in terms of costumes and jewelle