The 70-year old Moiseyev Dance Company is consistently acclaimed throughout the world as the greatest of all folk dance groups. The ensemble, honored as Russia's official "State Academic Ensemble of Popular Dance," has captivated international audiences for decades with its peerless technical brilliance and exuberant evocations of traditional dances. At the heart of the group's success is the genius of its visionary artistic director, choreographer and founder, the late Igor Moiseyev. Today, the Company's fame is so widespread it is often identified merely by its legendary founder's surname: Moiseyev.
The Company's origin can be traced back to 1936, when Igor Moiseyev, the then current Ballet Master and former principal dancer and choreographer of the Bolshoi Ballet, was asked by the Soviet government to organize the first Festival of National Dance. As a student, Moiseyev had traversed the country on foot during his free time, immersing himself in the study of Russian folklore and in the treasury of songs, dances, customs, traditions and festivals belonging to the 180 national cultures that comprised the Soviet Union. Fascinated by what he found, he embraced this unprecedented task of bringing traditional dances to national attention. The festival's subsequent success convinced Moiseyev that the formation of a professional company was necessary to preserve and develop the best traditions of folk dancing.
On February 10, 1937, Moiseyev gathered together a core of approximately forty dancers in a studio on Moscow's Leontievsky Street. The nascent company included the very best dancers from amateur companies across the country, and a handful of professional ballet dancers from the Bolshoi School and other classical companies. Moiseyev's intent, as he wrote at the time, was not to reproduce exactly examples from the body of more than 3000 existing national dances, but to raise the skill of performance to the highest artistic level in order to influence the creation of new national dances. His strong background in classical ballet would provide the basic training for his company, and his keen powers of observation and thorough knowledge of folklore would lead him to establish a unique style for his company that would be at once dramatic, entertaining in a theatrical sense, and larger-than-life.
Six months after that first gathering, The Moiseyev Dance Company gave its first performance at the city's Green Theatre. The inaugural program contained dances from the Ukraine, Armenia, Belorussia, the Far North and Azerbaijan. The public acclaim was immediate and overwhelming.
Within a few years of this initial triumph, Moiseyev had molded the first professional ensemble of popular dance into a superb company of 100 dancers. They toured throughout the Soviet Union, constantly adding dances from other, more remote regions, including Georgia, the Caucausus, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, the Gobi desert and the far reaches of Siberia. Moiseyev also created new works based on current themes, such as the desperate struggle of the Russian people during World War II.
When the Cold War first eased in 1955, the Moiseyev Dance Company began to tour the world. It has since appeared in and returned to more than 60 countries, covering all continents. Its ever-growing repertoire now includes dances of Spain, Japan, China, Bulgaria, Argentina, Mexico, Poland, Hungary and, of course, American jazz and rock-and-roll. The company now numbers more than 200, has its own orchestra and school, and possesses a repertoire in excess of 200 dances.
America's love affair with the Moiseyev Dance Company began in 1958 when the impresario Sol Hurok brought it to New York's old Metropolitan Opera House on 39th Street. The explosive 25-minute ovation it received then has not abated in the succeeding visits of the company to these shores, made in 1961, 1965, 1970, 1974, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2002 and 2005.
The Moiseyev Dance Company returned to North America for an unprecedented second visit in 2005 to appear with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, conducted by John Mauceri. Their three performances at the legendary Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA, marked the first time that the company has performed in the United States with a symphony orchestra. In 2008 the Moiseyev Dance Company will return to North America for a tour commemorating the life and work of Mr. Moiseyev as well as the 50th Anniversary of their first US tour and the 70th Anniversary of the Company.
IGOR MOISEYEV
Brief Biography
Igor Alexandrovich Moiseyev - "one of the greatest choreographers in 20th-century dance" (Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times) - was born of Ukrainian parentage in Kiev in 1906. A few months later Moiseyev's father, an attorney, moved the family to Paris where the boy passed the first seven years of his life, becoming bilingual. His mother, a seamstress, added to the family income by sewing costumes for productions at the Theatre Chatelet, a circumstance which may have stimulated an early interest in the arts of drama and dance.
He and his family returned to Russia in 1914, living first in Poltava in the Ukraine. There, the legendary villages of Dikanka and Sorochinsty became real to the young Moiseyev, and the festivals, fairs, and dances he witnessed became vivid, indelible images. Mr. Moiseyev later described it as "a kind of unconscious gravitation I felt all throughout my life."
A year later the Moiseyev family settled in Moscow. There, Moiseyev enrolled in a Gymnasium where he concentrated on painting, poetry and sports. At age twelve he began his ballet training at a well known private school headed by Vera Moslova. After seeing his first Bolshoi Ballet performance two years later, his career was determined. Moslova recognized his talent and brought him to the Bolshoi School where, out of one hundred applicants, only he and Asaf Messerer (who was destined to glorify his own name in Russian ballet) were chosen.
At 18, Moiseyev graduated from the Bolshoi School of Choreography, joined the Bolshoi Ballet, and gradually rose to the status of principal dancer. His most famous roles included Raoul in "Theolinde," Joseph in "Joseph the Beautiful," the Phoenix in "The Red Poppy" and leading roles in the standard classical repertoire. But choreography had become his chief passion. He created new productions for the Bolshoi, among them "Salammbo," in which he danced the leading role of Matho, "Three Fat Men," and "The Football Players." Even the most conservative members of the dance world, opponents of his departures from the strict programming of classical ballet, hailed him for his great choreographic inventiveness and his dazzling theatrical form. It was during this period also that he established his reputation as a scholar of all aspects of Russian folklore.
In 1936, Moiseyev was appointed Ballet Master at the Bolshoi Theatre. Shortly after, he was asked to organize a festival of national dance, and he thus began the work that would ultimately be recognized as one of the greatest artistic contributions to the dance world. The festival's success inspired him to form the state ensemble of folk dance now identified internationally with his name-The Moiseyev Dance Company. Since giving its first performance in 1938, the company has toured over sixty countries and is internationally recognized as the premier folk dance company in the world. Just as famous today are the signature dances he choreographed for his ensemble, which include the Ukrainian "Gopak," the soccer-inspired "Football Players," and "Summer."
Moiseyev won numerous awards for his artistic contributions to world culture. He was the recipient of UNESCO's Mozart Medal for "outstanding contribution to world music culture," the Government of Moscow Award for "Legend of the Century," and the award for "outstanding contribution to the development of cultural relations between the US and Russia"-an honor only accorded to two others: pianist Van Cliburn and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. On the occasion of his 100th birthday, a gala performance took place at the Kremlin Palace Theater in Moscow honoring his great contribution to the world of dance. Mr. Moiseyev was presented with Russia's top civilian honor for service to the nation from President Vladimir Putin. Mr. Moiseyev died in Moscow in November 2007 at the age of 101.
