Serge Lifar was “a Ukrainian dancer and choreographer, and one of the greatest male ballet dancers of the 20th century. Lifar was also a choreographer, director, writer, theoretician about dance, and collector. As Ballet Master of the Paris Opera from 1930 to 1944, and from 1947 to 1958, he devoted himself to the restoration of the technical level of the Paris Opera Ballet, returning it to its place as one of the best companies in the world”. In his autobiography, Ma vie: from Kiev to Kiev, Serge described his native Kyiv at the beginning of the 20th century and how he became a ballet dancer:
