Vladimir Vasiliev | |
|---|---|
 Vasiliev in 1972 | |
| Born | Vladimir Viktorovich Vasiliev (1940-04-18)18 April 1940 (age 85) |
| Education | Moscow Ballet School |
| Occupations |
|
| Spouse | |
| Career | |
| Former groups | Bolshoi Ballet |
Vladimir Viktorovich Vasiliev (Russian:Владимир Викторович Васильев; born 18 April 1940) is a Soviet and Russianballet dancer andchoreographer. He was aprincipal dancer with theBolshoi Ballet and its director from 1995 to 2000.[1][2][3] He was best known for his role ofSpartacus[4] and his powerful leaps and turns.[5] He received thePeople's Artist of the USSR (1973).
Vasiliev was named "God of the dance"[6][7] and is regarded as a classical dancer on the same level asRudolf Nureyev,Erik Bruhn andMikhail Baryshnikov.[8] At the height of their careers, Vasiliev andEkaterina Maximova were the golden couple of Russian ballet.
Vasiliev was born in Moscow in 1940, the son of a mechanical engineer. In 1947, at the age of seven, he joined the amateur ballet group of theKirov pioneer group, where he stayed two years.[9] His first teacher was Elena Romanovna Rosse.
He entered theMoscow Ballet School, commonly known as The Bolshoi Ballet Academy, in 1947 and graduated in 1958, when he joined the Bolshoi Ballet. His teachers at the Moscow Ballet School includedAleksey Yermolayev.
Vasiliev became a principal dancer in 1959 in his second year with the Bolshoi Ballet.
Vasiliev andEkaterina Maximova, both principal dancers, were the dream couple of the Bolshoi Ballet. Dancing as a pair for the first time in 1949 as classmates at the Moscow Ballet School, they were married in 1961.[citation needed]
New York Times dance critic Anna Kisselgoff described the excitement of one of Vasiliev's United States performances with the Bolshoi Ballet: "Yekaterina Maksimova and Vladimir Vasiliev burst upon New York City in 1959, the greatest of the passionate young dancers who, with Moscow's more established stars, made the Bolshoi Ballet's American debut a total triumph."[10]
The Bolshoi tour to London in 1969 was dominated by the sensational impact ofAram Khachaturian's balletSpartacus as choreographed byYury Grigorovich, in which, wrote the leading critic Richard Buckle, "Maximova would melt any tyrant's heart".[11]
The great male dancerMikhail Baryshnikov recently[when?] paid tribute to the couple, saying Maximova, with her "elegant build, beauty, virtuosity and even more so her spontaneity and sincerity", was treated like a "rare treasure" by the indomitable Vasiliev. This gave their performances an almost sacred aura, to which audiences gratefully responded.[citation needed]
Vasiliev and Ekaterina Maximova gleaned wide exposure for their appearances inFranco Zeffirelli's filmed version ofGiuseppe Verdi'soperaLa traviata of 1983. Both performed in Spanish costume, Vasiliev as amatador, in the "divertissements" composed for the equivalent of Act II, scene 2.
The couple was filmed in 1988 by French director Dominique Delouche in a film portrait “Katia et Volodia".[12]
In 2008, the Bolshoi hosted a week-long festival dedicated to Maximova and Vasiliev's 50 years on the Bolshoi stage, during which Vasiliev commented that the secret of partnering was "the man must not get in the way of the woman – she is the most important person on stage." He added that all his life his wife had been his inspiration for two qualities: her beauty and her capacity for hard work.[11]
The marriage lasted for 50 years, until Maximova died in 2009. They had no children.
In March 1995, Vasiliev was appointed the general and artistic director of the Bolshoi Theatre after Yury Grigorovich, artistic director of the ballet company since 1963, was dismissed by Russian presidentBoris Yeltsin.
Among the major projects Vasiliev has spearheaded there were such as the large scale exchange of Bolshoi andMariinsky Ballet companies in 1998, of the Bolshoi and Paris Opera Ballet to be held, first-ever New Year Ball in the Bolshoi on 31 December 1999, foundation of the International Club of the Bolshoi Friends.[13]
At the end of the 1990s, he was one of the first ballet directors who recognized the class and the outstanding qualities ofSvetlana Zakharova, then principal dancer with the Mariinsky ballet.[14] Svetlana Zakharova became a principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet in October 2003.[15]
Vasiliev was dismissed as director of the Bolshoi Theater on 28 August 2000.[2] He learned about his dismissal from hearing it on the radio.
Since his exit from the Bolshoi, Vasiliev premiered in the ballet productionLungo Viaggio Nella Notte di Natale, set to Tchaikovsky's music, in Opera di Roma, and continues to choreograph and stage new ballets.
Vasiliev is not as well known in the west as other iconic male dancers such asRudolf Nureyev andMikhail Baryshnikov, because he remained in theSoviet Union and did most of his work there.Nevertheless, his work as a classical dancer is regarded on the same level as both Nureyev and Baryshnikov.[8]Mathias Heymann, who was promoted to principal dancer with theParis Opera Ballet in 2009 at only 22 years old, told in an interview that he takes inspiration from watching videos of Rudolf Nureyev, whom he regards as his role model, along with Vasiliev and Baryshnikov.
Russia's influential ballet critic and choreographerFyodor Lopukhov called Vasiliev "God of the dance" and "A miracle in art, perfection".
Numerous roles were created for Vasiliev, and he performed throughout the world, usually partnering his wife. Among the most notable were those created by Yury Grigorovich, who gave him the principal roles in his original productions ofThe Tale of the Stone Flower,Spartacus,The Nutcracker, the ballet version ofIvan the Terrible,Valery Gavrilin'sAnyuta (1982), andYakov Eshpai'sAngara (1976). Besides Maximova, Vasiliev's famous partners includedGalina Ulanova,Maya Plisetskaya,Alicia Alonso,Carla Fracci, Rita Poelvoorde andAmbra Vallo.[1][2]
Having a body revealing great physical strength, Vasiliev did not embody the ideal physical form for a classical dancer.
He made enormous contributions to the development of classical male dance, embodying the strong new Bolshoi male.[1][2]
"You see — at the beginning we do things only as we have seen them done," said Vasiliev at the end ofKatia et Volodia, the 1988 film exploring Vasiliev's artistry and that of his wife and fellow Bolshoi luminary, Ekaterina Maximova. "Afterwards, we do them with what we find inside ourselves."[12]
Vasiliev is the first dancer to be given the award "La médaille d'or du meilleur danseur du monde" ("The Gold Medal of the World's Best Dancer") and also the only Grand Prix award winner at the Varna International Ballet Competition since winning the first competition in 1964.[16]
Over the years, Vasiliev has received many of the most prestigious Soviet, Russian and foreign prizes, orders and highest awards including theUSSR State Prize,[17]Russian State Prize,Order "For Merit to the Fatherland"[18][19] andState Order “For Merits” of France, Lithuanian State Order,Order of Rio Branco (Brazil), UNESCO Pablo Picasso Medal and others.
