Russian ballet maestro Yuri Grigorovich dies age 98

Acclaimed Russian ballet choreographer, Yuri Grigorovich, has died aged 98.

Described as one of many biggest choreographers of the twentieth century, he was inventive director of the Bolshoi Ballet from 1964 to 1995, which he’s mentioned to have led with an iron fist.

Grigorovich’s productions of the Stone Flower, Ivan the Horrible and Romeo and Juliet redefined Soviet ballet. Praised for revitalising male dance, he created elements for males demanding distinctive power and artistry.

Born in 1927, a decade after the Bolshevik Revolution, his work was steeped within the traditions of classical ballet.

His uncle, Georgy Rozai, had studied underneath the legendary Vaslav Nijinsky and the younger Grigorovich went on to bop as a soloist with the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad earlier than turning to choreography.

His departure from the Bolshoi in 1995, amid disputes over performers’ contracts, led to the primary ever dancers’ strike on the theatre in its 200-year historical past. Throughout a scheduled efficiency, a dancer emerged to tell the viewers the present was cancelled, leaving a surprised silence.

Following the Soviet Union’s collapse, the Bolshoi confronted instability. Grigorovich moved to Krasnodar to discovered a brand new ballet firm. He returned to the Bolshoi in 2008 as a choreographer and ballet grasp.

Grigorovich acquired prime Soviet and Russian honours, together with the titles Folks’s Artist of the USSR and Hero of Socialist Labour. His spouse, famend ballerina Natalia Bessmertnova, died in 2008.

His demise got here on the identical day as that of certainly one of his most celebrated collaborators, dancer Yuri Vladimirov, aged 83.

Valery Gergiev, the controversial head of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theatres, instructed Izvestia newspaper that Grigorovich was “a legendary determine who will proceed to command respect and admiration for many years to return”.

Gergiev, a long-time backer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has seen his world stature collapse since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with main establishments throughout Europe severing ties resulting from his refusal to sentence the struggle.

Identified for endorsing Russia’s seizure of Crimea and receiving prime state honours, Gergiev stays a central cultural determine inside Russia.

In January, Putin wished Grigorovich comfortable birthday, calling him “the pleasure of the Russian ballet” who “embodies a complete period within the historical past of Russian”.