Jean Börlin
Jean Börlin born in l893 in the northern Swedish coastal town
of Harnösand was five years younger than Rolf de Mare. The
two young men were from quite different class-backgrounds and as
personalities differed in the extreme. Jean was blond, open, happy
and childish; Rolf reserved, strict and serious yet they had one
thing in common – their sexual orientation. Further each felt
he had been betrayed by his mother. Rolf because of his mother’s
divorce; Jean because his mother left her husband who was a sea
captain. She took Jean to Stockholm, left him with her brother and
then disappeared from the life of her son until many years later
after he had become famous. She knew her brother’s family
had artistic interests and would encourage her son's talents. By
the age of eight Jean was a pupil at the Opera ballet school in
Stockholm.
Discontent
Thanks to a “schism" between the Russian choreographers
Michel Fokine and Sergei Diaghilev, Fokine was engaged as a guest
choreographer at the Opera ballet. Instead of following the hierarchical
ranking system Fokine chose those dancers he thought best suited
to the role. In this way Jean Börlin along with other young
dancers in the corps de ballet, were given a chance to dance leading
roles. But the enthusiasm that Fokine had aroused in the young dancers
received no outlet and led to discontent. Jean Börlin tried
to keep the flame alive through his own performances, and during
the summers of 1915 and 1916 he did extensive tours of the Swedish
provinces.
Fokine left Russia in 1918 and he along with Börlin were guests
at de Maré’s country house that Spring. Jean received
lessons during the summer months from Fokine while in Copenhagen
where he appeared successfully in guest ballets. Börlin went
to Paris where he was met by Nils Dardel and introduced to his friends,
including Picasso. Rolf arrived in Paris and took Jean off to a
study-tour of Spain and north Africa.
After the formation of the Ballets suédois are relation
warned him in a letter of a witch hunt in Sweden including possible
mudslinging and blackmail. Apart from homophobia another reason
for the hatred was de Maré's company bled the Royal Opera
of its leading young dancers. This letter was written after the
publication of the scandalous article in The Fatherland. The slanders
continued even after the Ballet Suédoise closed. Among Nils
Dardel's friends in Paris were Jacques Hébertot, a newspaper
and theatre man. Since the Theatre des Champs-Elysées happened
to be free de Maré bought the lease and appointed
Hébertot director. Among the enthusiastic supporters of the
new Ballets suédois was Jean Cocteau who became one of their
foremost PR men.
Aesthetic development
At the première (October 25 1920) Börlin presented
no less than four ballets with five more the following month.
In the five years of the company’s existence he created 24
ballets plus a number of solo compositions - and danced the leading
role in all of them. No one was permitted to cast a shadow over
de Maré's star - which led to the departure of several ballerinas.
The dancers of the company did not go along with the extra-ordinary
aesthetic development, and said they felt more like stage-props
than dancers as in Leger’s La Creation du Monde. But even
on a pure aesthetic basis the radicalism could not be carried further.
This plus the near ten million Swedish crowns de Maré had
lost in the venture brought a final dismal performance on l7th March
1925. Not only his grandmother but even his estranged mother helped
him out on this occasion.
Another reason for de Maré’s decision was Börlin's
health. After only two years
of almost super-human creative activity signs of over-exertion had
revealed themselves. A reliance on drugs and alcohol developed,
and the effects were fatal. Never ver slim he began to put on weight.
Börlin became irritable and unpredictable and the cumulative
effect led to de Maré’s reaction Börlin was bitter
about de Maré's decision. The bitterness became personal
and Börlin was replaced in Rolf’s affections by a young
man named André Daven.
Börlin - out in the financial cold - toured with two female
dancers from the company - mainly at hotels and ended up at a casino
in South America notorious for its prostitutes.
6th December 1930 Börlin's heart gave up the struggle. In his
hand was last letter from Rolf. Börlin was buried at his own
wish in the cemetery of Pére Lachaise in Paris in January
l931. He was 37.
,,I envy the painters,” Börlin once wrote, “their
works are immortal."
Based on part of a text by Erik Näslund
|
