Parade

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Parade

ballet by Satie and Cocteau

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July 23, 2026

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Parade is a ballet that premiered in 1917, created by composer Erik Satie and writer Jean Cocteau. Pablo Picasso designed the sets and costumes, which incorporated imagery of modern life like skyscrapers and airplanes. The ballet depicted a circus sideshow and was performed by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Paris. Its avant-garde elements, including the use of sounds like typewriters and sirens, were considered groundbreaking and even controversial at the time. The word "Surrealism" was first used in the program notes for Parade.12

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Erik Satie
His ballet Parade (1917; choreographed by Léonide Massine, scenario by Jean Cocteau, stage design and costumes by Pablo Picasso) was scored for typewriters, sirens, airplane propellers, ticker tape, and a lottery wheel and anticipated the use of jazz materials by Igor Stravinsky and others. The word Surrealism…
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His ballet Parade (1917; choreographed by Léonide Massine, scenario by Jean Cocteau, stage design and costumes by Pablo Picasso) was scored for typewriters, sirens, airplane propellers, ticker tape, and a lottery wheel and anticipated the use of jazz materials by Igor Stravinsky and others. The word Surrealism…
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Western painting
Fantasy and the irrational
…the style of the ballet Parade, for which Picasso had painted the sets, as:
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…the style of the ballet Parade, for which Picasso had painted the sets, as:
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Jean Cocteau
Heritage and youth
…in his ballets, such as Parade (1917), with music by Erik Satie, and Le Boeuf sur le toit (1920; “The Ox on the Roof”), with music by Darius Milhaud, but also in his other works; and it is sometimes quoted in his plays and films.
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…in his ballets, such as Parade (1917), with music by Erik Satie, and Le Boeuf sur le toit (1920; “The Ox on the Roof”), with music by Darius Milhaud, but also in his other works; and it is sometimes quoted in his plays and films.
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Pablo Picasso
Parade
… resulted in the production of Parade, a work about a circus sideshow that incorporated imagery of the new century, such as skyscrapers and airplanes. Cocteau went to Satie for the music and then to Picasso for the sets and costumes. Work began in 1917, and although Picasso disliked travel, he…
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… resulted in the production of Parade, a work about a circus sideshow that incorporated imagery of the new century, such as skyscrapers and airplanes. Cocteau went to Satie for the music and then to Picasso for the sets and costumes. Work began in 1917, and although Picasso disliked travel, he…
Read More