"They were a breath of fresh air, full of vitality, creativity. They came here to conquer a new public, a new kind of dance. I think they were the first modern classics", Brigitte Lefevre, director of dance at the Paris Opera told AFP.
The Opera Garnier in the heart of the French capital is the fitting setting for an exhibition crammed with costumes, designs for sets and other fascinating memorabilia.
Yet it was not here, but in the Theatre de Chatelet by the Seine that they made their debut because the Paris Opera initially snubbed the offer of hosting ballet.
A year earlier Diaghilev had brought Russian opera to Paris with much acclaim, but the amateur impresario, who described himself as an impecunious patron of the arts, could not raise the funding for a second opera season.
Instead he let himself be persuaded by his friend, the stage decorator Alexandre Benois, to turn to ballet, which was cheaper and in Benois's opinion "the most interesting art form, which has miraculously survived in Russia while it has disappeared everywhere else."
Diaghilev's troupe formed from dancers from the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg included the legendary Vaslav Nijinsky, who was also one of its principal choregraphers along with Michel Fokin and Leonid Massin.
Over the next 20 years, they created around 60 pieces which revolutionised ballet with the unprecedented artistic collaboration between composers, artists, choreographers and dancers.
The exhibition traces the early years through rare photos, watercolours, and sketches of scenery and costumes.
A large place is given to Russian decorator Leon Bakst, whose passion for Asian art was central to many productions. His set design for "Le Dieu Bleu" was inspired by the temples at Angkor, with Nijinsky adopting the attitude of Krishna playing the flute.
Stravinsky's seminal "Rite of Spring", choreographed by Nijinsky, sparked a riot at its first 1913 performance, while "Parade", a one-act scenario by Jean Cocteau set to music by Erik Satie and with scenery by Picasso, was another turning point.
The French poet Apollinaire identified the ballet, with its use of dissonance and futuristic costumes, as the starting point for the Surrealist movement.
After "Parade", Diaghilev increasingly turned to international avant garde artists to work with him -- Matisse, Braque, Miro, De Chirico, and Derain -- breaking the monopoly of painter-decorators in designing scenery.
The exhibition gives a real flavour of the hive of creativity and collaboration surrounding the Ballets Russes, whether from a Rodin sketch of Nijinsky, to a self portrait penned by Bakst on hotel writing paper and a cartoon by Cocteau of Picasso and Stravinsky.
Moving mementoes include Diaghilev's opera glasses, top hat and crocodile briefcase, and two pastels by Nijinsky of a female nude and a mask before he descended into madness. The company did not survive Diaghilev's death in Venice in 1929 but lives on through its descendants, notably George Balanchine and Serge Lifar.
Other events marking the centennial are exhibitions at the French national centre for dance at Pantin, in the Paris region, and the national centre for stage costumes in Moulins, in central France.
The Paris Opera is staging a season of 12 performances alongside the exhibition, which is open until May 23.
The principality of Monaco, where the Ballets Russes had a base from 1911, is holding its own commemorative season from December to July.
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Image: Francois Guillot/AFP.