This book by Nesta Macdonald traces the reception of Sergei Diaghilev and his landmark ballet company, the Ballets Russes, in the English-speaking world between 1911 and 1929. Drawing on contemporary criticism from newspapers and periodicals in England and the United States, the author presents how critics responded to Diaghilev?s tours, the controversial premieres, the style and artistry of ballet, and the shifting aesthetics of modern dance during this period. The volume includes chronological chapters that document key seasons, works, and critical debates, situating the Ballets Russes within cultural, artistic and social contexts of the time. With numerous illustrations and photographs, the book furthermore provides visual documentation of performances, dancers and designs that accompanied the textual analysis. In doing so, Macdonald fills a gap in dance history by focusing not on the choreography itself but on its reception by anglophone critics, enabling us to understand how Diaghilev?s enterprise was perceived, championed or contested in Britain and America across nearly two decades.