Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo - collection of 34 programs 1932-1962 (programs are available individually as well) $2000 FOR THE WHOLE COLLECTION

In 1931, Colonel Wassily de Basil (a Russian émigré entrepreneur from Paris) and René Blum, (ballet director at the Monte Carlo Opera) founded the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, giving its first performances there in 1932. Diaghilev alumni Léonide Massine and George Balanchine worked as choreographers with the company, and Tamara Toumanova was a principal dancer. Artistic differences led to a split between Blum and de Basil, after which de Basil renamed his company initially Ballets Russes de Colonel W. de Basil. Blum retained the name Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and de Basil created a new company. In 1938 he called it The Covent Garden Russian Ballet, then renamed it The Original Ballet Russe in 1939.

After World War II began, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo left Europe and toured extensively in the United States and South America. As dancers retired and left the company, they often founded dance studios in the United States or South America, or taught at other former company dancers' studios. With Balanchine's founding of the School of American Ballet, and later the New York City Ballet, many outstanding former Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo dancers went to New York to teach in his school.