The ballet premiered in April, 1924, in Monte Carlo, with principal dancers Lydia Sokolova and Michel Fedorov. Nijinska's choreography was set to the music of Modest Mussorgsky. Some designs for ballet then experimented "with costumes that 'reconstructed' the body, transforming its natural shape." For Night on Bald Mountain, Nijinska's sketches "show elongated, arc-like forms." The costumes designed by Alexandra Exter "played with shape" and "played with gender".Garafola (2005), p. 199 (three quotes).
