The next move from the revolutionary Diaghileff and his general Fokine was their unexpected appearance in Paris. Here they had surrounded themselves with a few genial ballet dancers of Petrograd and Moscow. The announcement of an appearance of the Russian ballet in Paris, under the management of Diaghileff and Fokine and with stars like Nijinsky, Mmes. Fokina, Karsavina and Astafieva, marks the first revolutionary move in Russian dance history. It was undoubtedly the phenomenal success that Pavlova and Mordkin had had outside of Russia, particularly in Paris and London, which actuated and encouraged the rebels. They argued, ‘If Pavlova and Mordkin had such phenomenal success as solo dancers, in the old classic style, we are more sure of a success in real modern ballets.’ And they proved that they had. Here is what a London critic writes of the appearance of the Diaghileff company: ‘For the unknown to be successful in London it is always necessary to create what is called a boom--marvelous clothes or the lack of them; a terrifying top note; a tame lion; a Star that has been shining with unparalleled brilliancy in another city. But we were told nothing about the Russian dancers when they arrived in 1909--some half dozen of them only--and so we expected nothing. And it is to be feared that some of us found what we expected. Now, two years later, we are slowly opening our eyes. ‘There is no need to describe either Karsavina or Pavlova. If there were, indeed, pen and ink would be incapable of the task, for they both typify and express the woman of all ages, and ageless. ‘*** For many it was as if they understood life for the first time, had entered a chamber in the castle Existence which hitherto had been hidden from them. They gave us thoughts, these Russian magicians, for which we have been unconsciously seeking and travailing many years. They gave us knowledge we thought to buy in a huckster’s shop, steal from a bottle of wine, or find in a bloodless novel or in the crude stage play of the average theatre, bearing little or no relation to life. Now here it was, all expressed in dances men and women danced thousands of years ago: music of face and body, of muscle and brain, which stirred and sang in our hearts like wind in the trees. ‘The elusive spirit of youth she (Karsavina) most eloquently expresses in _Les Sylphides_, the music by Chopin, which is described as a _Rêverie Romantique_. The sex of the dancer, instead of dominating, disappears. And so, of all the good things the Russian Dancers have given us, the Spirit of Youth of Tamara Karsavina comes first and foremost. ‘The men of the Russian Ballet possess the same technical perfection, the same marvelous grace, as the women. Whether their bodies be as slim and light as Nijinsky’s and Kosloff’s, or as massive and muscular as Mordkin’s and Tichomiroff’s, makes no difference: they can be as graceful, as supple, as tender as a girl, without losing a scrap of their superb masculinity.’