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Yuri Grigorovich’s Ivan the Talibull and Romeo and Juliet’s redefined Soviet ballet production
The acclaimed Russian ballet choreographer Yuri Grigorovich passed away at the age of 98.
He is said to be one of the greatest choreographers of the 20th century, and was the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet from 1964 to 1995, and is said to have been led by the iron fist.
Grigorovich’s stone flower production, Ivan the Talibull, Romeo and Juliet redefine Soviet ballet. Praising men’s dance for revitalizing, he created a part for men who demand exceptional strength and artistry.
Born in 1927, ten years after the Bolshevik Revolution, his works were ingrained in the classic ballet tradition.
His uncle, Giorgi Rozai, studied under the legendary Vaslav Nijinsky, so young Grigorovich continued to dance as a soloist in Leningrad’s Kirov Ballet, becoming a choreographer.
He from Bolshoi in 1995 led to the first dancer strike in the theater in 200-year history amid a dispute over the performer’s contract. During the scheduled performance, the dancers appeared and informed viewers that the show had been cancelled, leaving a shocked silence.
The Stone Flowers were considered his most famous work, accompanied by the setting of a series of folk tales composed by Sergei Prokofiev
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Bolshoi faced instability. Grigorovich moved to Krasnodar and founded a new ballet company. He returned to Bolshoi in 2008 as a choreographer and ballet master.
Grigorovich received the honor of the top Soviet and Russians, including artists from the Soviet people and heroes of socialist labor. His wife, the famous ballerina Natalia Besmart Nova, passed away in 2008.
His death came on the same day and on the same day as one of his most famous collaborators, 83-year-old dancer Yuri Vladimirov.
Valerie Gergiev, director of the theatres of Bolshoi and Marinsky, told the Izvestia newspaper that Grigorovich is “a legendary figure who will continue to order respect and praise for the next few decades.”
