awinsky--arrived. It
was to be deplored, however, that Bakst had seen fit to replace the
original _decor_ of _Scheherazade_ by a new setting in rawer colours, in
which the flaming orange fairly burned into the ultramarine and green
(readers of "A Rebours" will remember that des Esseintes designed a room
something like this). A few of the dancers came, but of the best not a
single one. Nor was Fokine, the dancer-producer, who devised the
choregraphy for _The Firebird_, _Cleopatre_, and _Petrouchka_, among the
number, although his presence had been announced and expected. To those
enthusiasts, and they included practically every one who had seen the
Ballet in its greater glory, who had prepared their friends for an
overwhelmingly brilliant spectacle, over-using the phrase, "a perfect
union of the arts," the early performances in January, 1916, at the
Century Theatre were a great disappointment. Often had we urged that the
individual played but a small part in this new and gorgeous
entertainment, but now we were forced to admit that the ultimate glamour
was lacking in the ensemble, which was obviously no longer the glad, gay
entity it once had been.

The picture was still there, the music (not always too well played) but
the interpretation was mediocre. The agile Miassine could scarcely be
called either a great dancer or a great mime. He had been chosen by
Diaghilew for the role of Joseph in Richard Strauss's version of the
Potiphar legend but, during the course of a London season carried
through without the co-operation of Nijinsky, this was the only part
allotted to him. In New York he interpreted, not without humour and with
some technical skill, the incidental divertissement from
Rimsky-Korsakow's opera, _The Snow-Maiden_, against a vivid background
by Larionow. The uninspired choregraphy of this ballet was also ascribed
to Miassine by the programme, although probably in no comminatory
spirit. In the small role of Eusebius in _Carneval_ and in the
negligible part of the Prince in _The Firebird_ he was entirely
satisfactory, but it was impertinent of the direction to assume that he
would prove an adequate substitute for Nijinsky in roles to which that
dancer had formerly applied his extremely finished art.

Adolf Bolm contributed his portraits of the Moor in _Petrouchka_, of
Pierrot in _Carneval_, and of the Chief Warrior in the dances from
_Prince Igor_. These three roles completely express the possibilities of
Bolm