PARTIMI's Eleanor Dorrien-Smith meets with the conservation team at the V&A and goes behind the scenes of the upcoming Diaghilev exhibition

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting some of the team behind the scenes of the upcoming Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes exhibition. I was lucky enough to see the conservationists at work on some of my grandmother's costumes. I will post more information about the costumes my grandmother collected and about my V&A visit soon...

Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, 1909 - 1929

25 September 2010 - 9 January 2011

This major retrospective will examine the origins, development and long term influence of the Ballets Russes, to celebrate celebrate their first seasons in Europe a hundred years ago.

Diaghilev’s extraordinary company, which survived a twenty-year rollercoaster of phenomenal successes and crippling problems, revolutionised ballet. As importantly, Diaghilev’s use of avant-garde composers, such as Stravinsky and designers such as Bakst, Goncharova, Picasso and Matisse, made a major contribution to the introduction of Modernism.

Museum staff are currently researching the exhibition and would be interested to hear from any individuals who have relevant private material. In particular, a large number of original costumes were dispersed at the Sotheby’s auctions in the early 1970s. So if you have an original costume still hanging in your wardrobe, we would be delighted to hear from you. In the first instance please contact Jane Pritchard, Curator of Dance at j.pritchard@vam.ac.uk