Mark Franko: The Fascist Turn in The Dance of Serge Lifar: Interwar French Ballet and the German Occupation – Sue Ash reviews

During the fascinating discussion between Professor Susan Jones and Professor Mark Franko, in celebration of the publication of this book, held for DANSOX members via Zoom in November 2020,[1] Franko says: “I worry that the Occupation chapter is overpowering the book”, because the critical responses received thus far, had only written about that chapter. I will attempt to review more of Franko’s tour de force than this chapter, although it is rich with new archival material which uncovers much about the relationship between Serge Lifar at the Paris Opera and the Nazi Occupation.

Franko runs the major theme of the baroque in neoclassicism in ballet, through the body of Serge Lifar, throughout his book. He dissects the French baroque of the seventeenth century and the German baroque of the eighteenth century, their similarities and differences, their nationalist links and how they are reflected in Lifar’s ballets at different stages of Lifar’s career in Paris (1929-1958).

 

Serge Lifar and the Interwar Dance Discourses of Neoclassicism (1930-39); Professor Mark Franko DANSOX guest seminar, 2nd June 2017

Following on from his fascinating presentation for DANSOX in 2015 on The Fascist Legs of Serge Lifar, internationally renowned dance scholar Professor Mark Franko of Temple University USA returns to St Hilda’s College to deliver a guest seminar which will examine how neoclassicism was theorized in French ballet during the 1930s.  Don’t miss this opportunity to hear about the further development of Professor Franko’s thought provoking research.

Date:  Friday 2nd June 5.30-7.00pm

Venue:  Jacqueline du Pré Building, St Hilda’s College, Cowley Place, Oxford OX4 1DY

Tickets:  This event is free and open to all and will be followed by refreshments.  However please book online here

Find out more about Dance Scholarship Oxford (DANSOX) and its ongoing programme here

Read Susanna Reece’s report for Oxford Dance Writers of Professor Franko’s talk on The Fascist Legs of Serge Lifar here

 

From the Neo-Classical Turn to the Baroque ‘Re’-turn: Professor Mark Franko lecture for APGRD & DANSOX, Ioannou Centre, 9th March 2016 2016

Following his fascinating talk last June about Serge Lifar (read Susanna Reece’s account here), another opportunity to welcome distinguished dance scholar Professor Mark Franko to Oxford, at the joint invitation of DANSOX and APGRD (Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama):

‘From the Neo-Classical Turn to the Baroque ‘Re’-turn: French Dance in Retrospective Modernity and Recycling Postmodernity’

Professor Mark Franko, Temple University, Philadelphia

Date:  Wednesday, March 9, 2016 – 5:00pm

Venue:  The Outreach Room, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, 66 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3L

Free, all welcome.
No booking required.

More information on APGRD here

 

Professor Mark Franko on The Fascist Legs of Serge Lifar for DANSOX 4th June 2015 – Susanna Reece reports

Can ballet ever claim to be an apolitical art form, especially in such extreme conditions as the Nazi occupation of France during the Second World War? What should be our response to a dancer, choreographer and ballet director who appears to have collaborated with the Third Reich and its ethos? Can he ever be ‘rehabilitated’ and should his works created under these conditions be performed? These were some of the questions arising for Professor Mark Franko in his intriguing DANSOX talk The Fascist Legs of Serge Lifar: French Ballet under the Occupation at St Hilda’s College on Thursday 4th June.

 

DANSOX presents Professor Mark Franko – The Fascist Legs of Serge Lifar: French Ballet under the Occupation, St Hilda’s College, Thursday 4th June 2015

Hard on the heels of its recent highly popular event featuring choreographer Kim Brandstrup, DANSOX supported by the Oxford Research Centre for the Humanities (TORCH) brings another distinguished guest to St Hilda’s Oxford on Thursday 4th June.  Professor Mark Franko, internationally renowned dance scholar of Temple University and Middlesex University, presents an illustrated lecture on The Fascist Legs of Serge Lifar: French Ballet under the Occupation emerging from his recent research on this important and controversial early twentieth-century director and choreographer.  Professor Franko will share fascinating new sources for evaluating Serge Lifar’s life and work during WW2 at the Paris Opera and illuminate the relationship of neo-classicism and dance.

Date:  Thursday 4th June 2015, 5.30-7.00pm

Venue:  Jacqueline du Pré Building, St Hilda’s College, Oxford

This event is free and open to all and will be followed by refreshments.

Booking essential at: https://eventbrite.co.uk/event/16611691015/

You can find more information about DANSOX and TORCH here