A monument to the Soviet and Russian choreographer, choreographer and teacher Yuri Grigorovich was unveiled at the Novodevichy cemetery, RIA Novosti correspondent reports.
Grigorovich died last year on May 19 from complications after double pneumonia at the age of 99. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery next to his wife, ballerina Natalia Bessmertnova.
The opening ceremony of the monument to the great Russian choreographer Yuri Grigorovich took place at the Novodevichy cemetery. It was attended by artists, ballet teachers and musical theater workers from different cities of Russia.
The sculptor was Maxim Malashenko, who also created a monument for the wife of the legendary choreographer, the world-famous ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia Natalia Bessmertnova. The co-authors of the monument were Nikita Mazaev and Roman Makarov. The bronze monument was installed next to the burial of the choreographer’s wife, surrounded by lush bouquets of roses from the staff of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia, colleagues, students, friends and relatives.
“My acquaintance with Yuri Nikolaevich happened under difficult circumstances: his wife and muse passed away, and I was recommended to him as a sculptor to create a monument. And together we embodied her image. After we went to the Bolshoi Theater, to see “Spartacus,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “The Nutcracker” - the world of ballet opened up for me, this extraordinary world, which the great one helped me touch master,” said the sculptor.
He added that he thought for a long time about various compositional solutions in order to harmoniously combine the images of the spouses and convey the scale of the great master’s personality.
“In the end, after much deliberation, the decision came suddenly and easily, like a sign from above, no less. This is how this ensemble was born: they are together, the maestro sits, partially facing his wife, and at the same time, as if looking somewhere into the distance, at the performance of the artists. Both are in ballet poses, their glances wordlessly express feelings for each other and for ballet - the work and mission of their whole lives,” Malashenko added.
“For a long time I imagined how the monument to the great Grigorovich should turn out, and I am in complete admiration. How subtly the master was able to capture the mood and reflect his whole life in it - in movement, in an inspired state, in an effort to rise up and bring his artists there. And his attention, there was not a single artist who did not feel that precious gaze of Yuri Nikolaevich, and for this, everyone tried to do more, to give the maximum,” she said at the ceremony prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater, People's Artist of the Russian Federation Svetlana Zakharova.
People's Artist of Russia Nikolai Tsiskaridze noted that together with Grigorovich he visited many countries, including various exhibitions, and now each of those places is inextricably linked with the memory of him. Musical works, painting and other types of creativity are perceived by me through the prism of his understanding of art, he added.
“And to imagine that he is not there is impossible for me, because I always feel his presence. The main monument to Yuri Nikolaevich is his work, which is on different stages of the world. It seems to me that everyone who touched him and to whom he gave his time, heart, love, will always remember him. Because he was not only a brilliant choreographer, but also an absolutely encyclopedic educated, incomparably kind, warm person,” concluded Tsiskaridze.
Grigorovich was born in 1927 in St. Petersburg. In 1947-1957 he was a soloist of the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater named after Kirov, then the theater's choreographer. From 1964 to 1995 he served as chief choreographer of the Bolshoi Theater, and since 2008 he has been its full-time choreographer.
