Prominent Russian choreographer Yuri Grigorovich has died at the age of 98. Considered one of the greatest choreographers of the 20th century, Grigorovich directed the Bolshoi Ballet from 1964 to 1995, during which time he led the company with a strict and authoritarian style.
Among his most famous works are The Stone Flower, Ivan the Terrible, and Romeo and Juliet, which radically changed Soviet ballet. He was credited with reviving the role of men in ballet, creating pieces that required extraordinary physical strength and deep artistic expression.
Born in 1927, just a decade after the Bolshevik Revolution, Grigorovich was raised in the traditions of classical ballet. His uncle, Georgy Rozai, had studied with the legendary Vaslav Nijinsky. Grigorovich himself began as a soloist with the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, before focusing on choreography.
His departure from the Bolshoi in 1995, amid disputes over dancers' contracts, led to the first strike in the theater's 200-year history. A dancer came on stage to announce to the audience that the performance had been canceled, causing the theater to fall into a deafening silence.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Grigorovich founded a new ballet troupe in Krasnodar, but returned to the Bolshoi in 2008 as master choreographer.
He has been honored with the highest Soviet and Russian titles, including “People’s Artist of the USSR” and “Hero of Socialist Labor.” His wife, the renowned ballerina Natalia Bessmertnova, passed away in 2008.
Grigorovich passed away on the same day as one of his closest collaborators, the dancer Yuri Vladimirov, at the age of 83. (A2 Televizion)
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