Following a short stint with the Marykinsky troupe, he joined Moscow's Bolshoi Theater School, remaining there until 1918.

[1] Unhappy with the conservatism of Moscow's ballet scene, he soon sought alternative venues for his creative ideas.

Working in Moscow's cabarets and with impresarios such as Vsevolod Meyerhold, he created dark and sultry scenarios highly sexual in character.

His most popular early work is Joseph the Handsome (1925), music by Sergei Vasilenko, written for the Bolshoi's Experimental Theater.

[3] Later works for the Bolshoi that also met with conservative objection include Lola (1925; music by Vasilenko) and The Whirlwind (1927).