Lgor Belsky

Belsky, Lgor (b Leningrad, 28 Mar. 1925, d St Petersburg, 3 July 1999). Soviet dancer, choreographer, and ballet director. He studied ballet at the Leningrad Ballet School, graduating in 1943, and acting at the Leningrad Institute for Theatre Arts, graduating in 1957. He joined the Kirov Ballet in 1943, and during the next twenty years he became one of the company's leading character dancers. He created roles in Jacobson's Shurale (1950) and Spartacus (1956), Sergeyev's Path of Thunder (1958), Grigorovich's The Stone Flower (1957), and Boris Fenster's Taras Bulba (1955). His own choreography for the Kirov included Coast of Hope (mus. A. Petrov, 1959), which was one of the first Soviet ballets to deal successfully with a contemporary theme (patriotism and loyalty), and Leningrad Symphony (1961), which was set to the first movement of Shostakovich's 7th Symphony and celebrated the Soviet spirit in battle. From 1962 to 1973 he was chief choreographer and artistic director of the Leningrad Maly Theatre where he produced new versions of The Humpbacked Horse, Swan Lake, and Nutcracker, while creating Eleventh Symphony (mus. Shostakovich, 1966), and Gadfly (mus. Tchernov, 1967). He enjoyed a brief spell as chief choreographer and artistic director of the Kirov Ballet (1973-7); for the Kirov he made Icarus (1974). Chief choreographer of the Leningrad Music Hall (1979-92); artistic director of the Vaganova Ballet Academy (from 1992). He began teaching character dance in 1946 at the Leningrad school (the Vaganova); from 1966 he taught choreography at the St Petersburg Conservatory. People's Artist RSFSR (1966).