Igor Aleksandrovich Moiseyev (Russian: Игорь Александрович Моисеев; 21 January [O.S. 8 January] 1906 – 2 November 2007) was a Soviet and Russian ballet master, dancer, choreographer and pedagogue. Moiseyev was widely acclaimed as the greatest 20th-century choreographer of character dance, a dance style similar to folk dance but with more professionalism and theatrics.
Life and career
Born in Kyiv, Russian Empire, he was the only child of a Russian lawyer and a French-Romanian seamstress.[1] His family lived in Paris until he was 8, and throughout his life he spoke to Western journalists in fluent French.[2] Moiseyev graduated from the Bolshoi Theatreballet school in 1924 and danced in the theatre until 1939. His first choreography in the Bolshoi was Footballer in 1930 and the last was Spartacus in 1954.
Since the early 1930s, he staged acrobatic parades on Red Square and finally came up with the idea of establishing the Theatre of Folk Art. In 1936, Vyacheslav Molotov put him in charge of the new dance company, which has since been known as the Moiseyev Ballet. Among about 200 dances he created for his company, some humorously represented the game of football and guerrilla warfare. After visiting Belarus he choreographed a Belarusian "folk" dance Bulba ("Potato"), which over the years indeed became a Belarusian folk dance. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, Moiseyev's work has been especially admired "for the balance that it maintained between authentic folk dance and theatrical effectiveness".
He was married at least twice. In 1940, he married the dancer Tamara Zeifert [ru] and his daughter from that marriage, Olga, was a dancer in the Igor Moiseyev Ballet.[2] His grandson, Vladimir Borisovich Moiseyev [ru], was a performer in the Krasnoyarsk National Dance Company of Siberia as of 2015.[3]
Today, the repertoire of the Igor Moiseyev Ballet includes choreographic works by Moiseyev, starting in 1937. Approximately, there are nearly 300 original works of Moiseyev.
1st class (21 January 2006) – for outstanding contribution to the development of domestic and international choreographic art, many years of creative activity[7]
2nd class (12 June 1999) – for outstanding contribution to cultural development and in connection with the 75th anniversary of creative activity[8]
3rd class (28 December 1995) – for services to the state, an outstanding contribution to the development of choreographic art[9]
Order of Friendship of Peoples (11 April 1994) – for his great personal contribution to the development of choreographic art and world culture
Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 5th class (Ukraine, 3 March 2006) – for outstanding contribution to the development of cultural ties between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, the long-term selfless artistic activity
