Leonide Massine, parting with the company he had built, joined Ballet Theatre as dancer and choreographer before the company’s departure for a second summer season at the Palacio des Bellas Artes in Mexico City, as guests of the Mexican Government. In addition to performances there, the company used the Mexican period as one of creation and rehearsal. Massine was in the midst of a creative frenzy, working on two new ballets. One was _Don Domingo_, which had some stunning scenery and costumes by the Mexican artist, Julio Castellanos; an intriguing score by Sylvestre Revueltas; a Mexican subject by Alfonso Reyes; _Don Domingo_ was prompted by the sincere desire to pay a tribute to the country south of the border which had played host to the company. That was Massine’s intention. Unfortunately, the work did not jell, and was soon dropped from the repertoire. The other work was _Aleko_, which takes rank with some of the best of Massine’s creations. It was a subject close to his heart and to mine, the poetic Pushkin tale of the lad from the city and his tragic love for the daughter of a gypsy chieftain, a love that brings him to two murders and a banishment. As a musical base, Massine took the Trio for piano, violin, and violoncello which Tchaikowsky dedicated “to the memory of a great artist,” Nicholas Rubinstein, in an orchestration by Erno Rapee. The whole thing was a fine piece of collaboration between Massine and the surrealist painter, Marc Chagall; and the work was deeply moving, finely etched, with a strong feeling for character. I have particularly happy memories of watching Chagall and his late wife working in happy collaboration on the _Aleko_ production in Mexico City. While he busied himself with the scenery, she occupied herself with the costumes. The result of this fine collaboration on the part of all the artists concerned resulted in a great Russian work. The Ballet Theatre management was, to put it mildly, not in favour of _Aleko_. It was a production on which I may be said to have insisted. Fortunately, I was proved correct. Although it was dropped from the repertoire not long after Ballet Theatre and I came to a parting of the ways, it has now, ten years after its production, been crowned with success in London. Presented at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, by Ballet Theatre, in the summer of 1953, it has proved to be the outstanding hit of their London season, both with press and public. I cannot remember the unemotional and objective _Times_ (London) waxing more enthusiastic over a balletic work.