Bolshoi Ballet (redirected from Bolshoi Theatre)

Bolshoi Ballet (bōl`shoi, bôl`–), one of the principal ballet companies of Russia; part of the Bolshoi Theater, which also includes Russia's premier opera company. The Bolshoi Ballet began as a dancing school for the Moscow Orphanage in 1773. The Bolshoi Theatre, which opened permanently in 1856, in its early decades competed for preeminence with the Maryinsky Theatre of St. Petersburg (see Kirov Ballet). Aleksandr Gorsky revitalized the dance company in the early 20th cent. and introduced a new dramatic realism to the classical ballets. Igor Moiseyev experimented with folk-dance ballets at the Bolshoi in the 1930s. The company is internationally acclaimed for its superb ensemble skills and for the spectacular realism of its scenery and costumes. During the 1960s, Maya Plisetskaya was the company's prima ballerina. In 1964, Yuri Grigorovich became chief choreographer and later, artistic director, serving until 1995. His productions included a very successful version of Khachaturian's Spartacus. Aleksei Fadeyechev was the ballet's artistic director from 1998 to 2000, when Boris Akimov was named to the post. The company is internationally acclaimed and regularly tours with such classics as Giselle and Swan Lake.

Bibliography

See study by Y. Grigorovich and V. Vaslov (1984).

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Bolshoi Ballet

Leading ballet company of Russia, noted for elaborate productions of 19th-century classical ballets. The company was formed in 1776 and took the name of its home, Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre, in 1825. Its influential choreographers included Marius Petipa, Carlo Blasis, and Aleksandr Gorsky. Yuri Grigorovich was artistic director from 1964 to 1995. Its many successful tours have introduced its outstanding dancers, including Yekaterina Geltzer, Vasily Tikhomirov, Galina Ulanova, and Maya Plisetskaya, to audiences worldwide.