Leonid Veniaminovich Iakobson

Iakobson, Leonid Veniaminovich 

(also Yakobson, Jacobson). Born Jan. 2 (15), 1904, in St. Petersburg; died Oct. 18, 1975, in Leningrad. Soviet dancer and choreographer. Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR (1957).

Iakobson graduated from the Leningrad Choreographic School in 1926 and danced at the Leningrad S. M. Kirov Theater of Opera and Ballet until 1933. He was a dancer and choreographer with the Bolshoi Theater from 1933 until 1942, when he returned to the Kirov Theater as a choreographer.

In his search for new means of expression, Iakobson employed forms and devices from related arts, such as painting, sculpture, and cinema. His productions included Iarullin’s Shurale (also staged as Ali-Batyr; 1950; State Prize of the USSR, 1951), Khatchaturian’s Spartacus (1956, 1962), Firtich and Otkazov’s The Bedbug (1962), and Tishchenko’s The Twelve (1964). In 1970, Iakobson organized a new company in Leningrad, Choreographic Miniatures, and served as its artistic director. His productions for Choreographic Miniatures included Contrasts to music by Stravinsky and Exercise XX to music by Bach.

REFERENCE

Dobrovol’skaia, G. N. Baletmeister Leonid Iakobson. Leningrad, 1968.