In 1915 ballet producer Sergei Diaghilev wanted to create a ballet called "La Liturgie". Its background would be the Greek Orthodox Church. Stravinsky was a strong Christian, and did not want to write this ballet. He turned instead to Russian folk songs for "Les Noces". He had started to think about this in 1913. Michel Fokine started the choreography but Vaslav Nijinsky took over. Leonide Massine stepped in for Nijinsky. When Massine left, Bronislava Nijinska designed the dancing.