Original Ballet Russe

The company assumed the new name Original Ballet Russe after a split between de Basil and Blum.

It was a large scale professional ballet company which toured extensively in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the United States, and Central and South America.

Featured dancers included David Lichine (who soon began choreographing ballets for the company), and the "baby ballerinas" Irina Baronova, Tamara Toumanova, and Tatiana Riabouchinska.

Without consulting Blum, Col. de Basil dropped Balanchine after one year[2] – ostensibly because he thought that audiences preferred the works choreographed by Massine.

According to historian Katherine Sorley-Walker, however, Balanchine and Kochno left of their own volition, because they found Blum and De Basil "dictatorial.

[4] In April, 1934, Bronislava Nijinska directed the company's season at the Théâtre de Monte-Carlo,[5][6] presenting her ballets Bolero, Variations, Etude, and Les Comediens Jaloux.

In 1937, Massine left, joining with Blum to form their own company,[10] recruiting several dancers from their previous group.

Massine sued de Basil in London to regain the intellectual property rights to his own works.

Col. de Basil renamed his company again, calling it the Covent Garden Russian Ballet[4] and bringing on Michel Fokine as resident choreographer.

The company then spent some weeks on a "whistle stop" tour of America, sleeping on the special train hired to transport them.

[12][13][14] During his visit to Australia, de Basil commissioned work from Australians, especially from designers, who included Sidney Nolan and Kathleen and Florence Martin.

A number of dancers stayed in Australia,[15] including Kira Bousloff, who went on to found the West Australian Ballet.