Le Train Bleu

Le Train Bleu was an express train created by the French railroad company, so named for its lavish blue sleeping cars. It was exclusively first-class, designed to carry aristocrats, celebrities and the wealthy to the French Riviera in 1922.

In 1909 Sergei Diaghilev formed an itinerant ballet company called the Ballet Russes that reawakened an interest in dance across Europe and America. Diaghilev acted as the organizer for the company by involving groundbreaking artistic collaboration of rising contemporary fine artists in both mucis and the visual arts. He formed the "Pickwick Club" who created a movement. They believed "art is free, life is paralyzed".

In 1924 Le Train Bleu inspired a ballet of the same name. It was an operetta of dance of a chic and flippant society. The scenario was written by Jean Cocteau and mockingly celebrated the cult of open-air life, fine bodies, and sport. We see dancers flirting in the sunshine. It celebrates and makes fun of those who skim the surface of life. It has even been surmised that perhaps the character for the "golfer" was based upon the Prince of Whales (later King Edward VIII), a frequent passenger of Le Train Bleu.

Many great names were involved in this marriage of artists. Darius Milhaud wrote the score. Romanian sculptor Heri Lauren created the set. Bronislava Nijinski created the original choreography. Gabrielle "coco" Chanel designed the wool jersey swimsuits, and Pablo Picasso painted the phenomenal stage curtain.

No, there is no sign of the train for which it was named in the ballet at all.

Please enjoy Oil Region Ballet's own version of
Le Train Bleu from our own collaboration of artists and performers here in your own hometown.

The Cast

Beauty- Mary Bajek

Handsome- Darin Paden

Tennis Pro- Morgan Jacoby

Golf Pro- Brenden Glover

Swimmers- Danielle Eberle, Erin Edwards, Mahala Removich, Rachel Leech, Erika Maleski, Dreams Nelson, Erica Perry, Shelby Seyler, Abbey Shull, Shannon Wolff, and Hannah Young