Igor Moiseyev

Igor Alexandrovich Moiseyev (Russian: Игорь Александрович Моисеев; 21 January [O.S. 8 January] 1906 – 2 November 2007) has been widely acclaimed as the greatest 20th-century choreographer of character dance, a dance style similar to folk dance but with more professionalism and theatrics.

For the Ukrainian footballer, see Ihor Moiseyev.

Igor Moiseyev in 1961

Life and career

Born in Kiev, 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 Theatre ballet 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".

Moiseyev was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1953, Hero of Socialist Labor in 1976, received the Lenin Prize (1967, for the dance show A Road to the Dance), four Stalin/USSR State Prizes (1942, 1947, 1952, 1985), Russian Federation State Prize (1996), was awarded numerous orders and medals of the Soviet Union, Spain and many other countries. On the day of his centenary, Moiseyev became the first Russian to receive Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st class — the highest civilian decoration of the Russian Federation. In 2001, he was awarded the UNESCO Mozart Medal for outstanding contribution to world music culture. He died in Moscow on 2 November 2007 aged 101.

Today the repertoire of the Igor Moiseyev Ballet includes choreographic works by Igor Moiseyev, starting in 1937. Approximately, there are nearly 300 original works of Igor Moiseyev.

Ballets: • Polovtsian Dances (music by Alexander Borodin) • At the skating-rink (music by Johann Strauss) • Night on Bald Mountain (music by Modest Mussorgsky) • Spanish ballad (music by Pablo Luna) • Evening in the Tavern • Jewish suite "Family joy"

Dance paintings: • Football • Guerrillas • Day on a ship (Engine room, Yablochko) • Labour Day • The buffoons (music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov) and many dances

Honours and awards
Igor Moiseyev at the age of 100
USSR and the Russian Federation
  • Hero of Socialist Labour (20 January 1976)
  • Three Orders of Lenin (1958, 1976, 1985)
  • Order of the October Revolution (1981)
  • Order of the Red Banner of Labour, twice (1940, 1966)
  • Order of the Badge of Honour (1937)
  • Order of Merit for the Fatherland;
    • 1st class (21 January 2006) – for outstanding contribution to the development of domestic and international choreographic art, many years of creative activity
    • 2nd class (12 June 12, 1999) – for outstanding contribution to cultural development and in connection with the 75th anniversary of creative activity
    • 3rd class (28 December 1995) – for services to the state, an outstanding contribution to the development of choreographic art
  • Order of Friendship (11 April 1994) – for his great personal contribution to the development of choreographic art and world culture
Foreign
Award
  • Lenin Prize (1967)
  • Stalin Prizes, 1st class (1942, 1952) and 2nd class (1947)
  • USSR State Prize (1985)
  • Russian Federation State Prize in Literature and Art in 1995 (27 May 1996)
Titles
  • People's Artist of USSR (1953)
  • People's Artist of RSFSR (1944)
  • People's Artist of the Moldavian SSR (1950)
  • People's Artist of the Kyrgyz SSR (1976)
  • Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1942)
  • People's Artist of Buryat ASSR (1940)


Awards
Ovation
Preceded by
2000
Yuri Antonov		 Living Legend Award
2001
Igor Moiseyev		 Succeeded by
2002
Aleksandra Pakhmutova

See also
  • List of Russian dancers

References
  1. http://www.luchmir.com/Iskusstvo/1Moiseev100.htm
  2. Jack Anderson (3 November 2007). "'Igor Moiseyev, 101, Choreographer, Dies'". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 June 2008.
  3. DECRETO NACIONAL 1.163/2004
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