Dr. Carla Stalling Huntington, assistant professor of marketing and management at MSSU, will discuss the advent of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in a presentation scheduled for 2 p.m., Friday, Nov. 19 in the Bud Walton Theatre at MSSU.

The presentation is free and open to the public.

The Ballets Russes had its origin in the early 1900s and its ultimate demise by the late 1920s. Diaghilev's company, which originated in Russia although it never performed there, has been called "the progenitor of modern ballet." Many ballet companies of the first half of the 20th century in England, France, Argentina, and elsewhere, were either founded by veterans of the Ballets Russes or were rejuvenated by Ballets Russes alumni.

In the United States, the Ballets Russes was instrumental in helping to form the New York City Ballet (and, therefore, later companies in the U.S. that recruited dancers from the New York City Ballet). Dr. Huntington also will discuss the founder of the New York City Ballet, George Balanchine, who had been a dancer in Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and a choreographer for the Ballet Russe and for the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo.

The presentation will include information about the economics of the dance companies as well as a demonstration of the dance methodology. Dr.Huntington's research emphasizes the history, marketing, economics and management of professional ballet. Her goal in focusing on these areas of research is to influence the formulation of effective policy and increasing demand in the professional ballet industry.

Dr. Huntington has published "Ninette de Valois, Lydia Lopokova and John Maynard Keynes, III: Economics and Ballet in London 1932 - 1942" in the 2003 Proceedings of the Society of Dance History Scholars. Aside from her research interests, Dr. Carla Huntington continues to dance and has done so for more than 25 years. She also launched and led a small performing professional ballet company in southern California.

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