In 1909, Sergei Diaghilev invited Fokine to become the choreographer of his Ballets Russes in Paris. Fokine broke off the collaboration in 1912, jealous of Diaghilev's close relationship with Vaslav Nijinsky. He moved to Sweden in 1918 and later established his home in New York City, where he founded a ballet school and continued to appear with his wife, Vera Fokina. He became a United States citizen in 1932. Fokine died in New York on 22 August 1942.