Swans of the Kremlin: Ballet and Power in Soviet Russia

Appendix 1: A Who’s Who

 Appendix 1 a who’s who The following biographical entries focus on those aspects of each individual ’s life that are most relevant for this book. Unless noted otherwise, entries are based on Russkii balet entsiklopediia (Moscow: Bol’shaia rosiiskaia entsiklopediia , “Soglasie,” 1997); Arsen Degen and Igor’ Stupnikov, Peterburgskii balet, 1903–2003 (St. Petersburg: Baltiiskie Sezony, 2003); and Debra Craine and Judith Mackrell, The Oxford Dictionary of Dance (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000). Until February 1918, Russia used the Julian calendar, which ran thirteen days behind the Gregorian calendar used in Western Europe. Where applicable, dates are given in both the Julian and Gregorian calendar. George Balanchine (orginally Georgii Balanchivadze; 9 [22] January 1904, St. Petersburg–30 April 1983, New York) was a dancer, arguably the most influential choreographer for twentieth-century ballet, and the chief architect of ballet in the United States. He graduated from the Petrograd Theatrical Institute in 1921 and danced with the former Mariinsky until 1924.1 Balanchine began to choreograph while still in Russia and danced in Lopukhov’s Dance Symphony. He left Russia and joined Diaghilev in 1924 and became the chief choreographer of the Ballets Russes within a year. He went to the United States on Lincoln Kirstein’s invitation and founded the School of American Ballet in 1934. Subsequently, he and Kirstein founded the New York City Ballet (for two years known as the Ballet Society) in 1946. Balanchine ’s musically driven choreographic vision of neoclassical ballet became the most influential choreographic movement in twentieth-century ballet in the West: Balanchine believed that dance was visualized music. His choreography was firmly based on classical ballet technique but filtered through his own, innovative personal style. He stripped ballet of narrative  z Appendix 1 and theatrical settings. During the Cold War, Balanchine’s nonnarrative ballets were seen as the antithesis to Soviet ballet’s full-length, narrative ballets. Major works include Apollon Musagète (1928), Prodigal Son (1929), Serenade (1934), Le Baiser de la Fée (1937), Card Game (1937), Concerto Barocco (1941), Ballet Imperial (1941, later renamed Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2), The Four Temperaments (1946), Orpheus (1948), Le Palais de Cristal (1947), La Valse (1951), Scotch Symphony (1952), The Nutcracker, Western Symphony, and Ivesiana (1954), Allegro Brillante (1956), Agon (1957), Stars and Stripes and The Seven Deadly Sins (1958), Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux and Liebeslieder Walzer (1960), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1962), Jewels (called the first full-length plotless ballet, 1967), Who Cares? (1970), Ballo della Regina (1978), Robert Schumann’s “Davidsb ündlertänze” and Walpurgisnacht Ballet (1980), and Mozartiana (re-created for the Tschaikovsky Festival of 1981). Igor’ Bel’sky (28 March 1925, Leningrad–3 July 1999, St. Petersburg) was a dancer, choreographer, and pedagogue. Bel’sky graduated from the Leningrad Choreographic Institute in 1943, danced with the Kirov, 1943– 1963, and developed into one of the company’s leading character dancers. Artistic director (glavnyi baletmeister) of the ballet of the Leningrad Maly Theater , 1962–1973, and of the Kirov Ballet, 1973–1977, he taught the course Art of the Choreographer at the Leningrad Conservatory, 1962–1964 and from 1966 onward; from 1992 until his death, he was artistic director of the Academy of Russian Ballet named after A. Ia. Vaganova. One of the most important innovative choreographers of the late 1950s and 1960s, Bel’sky was a “symphonic” choreographer and a central figure in the choreographic battle between choreographic symphonism and drambalet. He produced works on contemporary, Soviet topics, abstracting the action and setting his ballets in pure dance, using minimalist sets and costumes. Major works include Coast of Hope (1959) and Leningrad Symphony (1961). Vakhtang Chabukiani (27 February [12 March] 1910, Tiflis–6 April 1992, Tbilisi) was a dancer, choreographer, and pedagogue. He trained locally and enrolled at the Leningrad Choreographic Institute in 1926. He danced with the Kirov from 1929 until 1941. A dancer of the heroic type, he was one of the leading stars of the drambalet generation, combining virtuosity with expressive acting. Fearlessly virtuosic, he took male dancing to a new level. From 1941 until 1973, he was the director of the ballet ensemble of the Paliashvili Theater in Tbilisi. He headed the Tbilisi Choreographic Institute from 1950 until 1973. Major roles include Siegfrid (Swan Lake), Solor (La Bayadère), Slave (Le Corsaire), Basil (Don Quixote), Albert (Giselle), Jerome (Flames of Paris), Kerim (Partisan Days), Andrei (Taras Bulba), Dzhardzhi (Heart z Appendix 1...