SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Yuri Grigorovich has died. He was a towering figure in the field of dance as the Soviet Russian choreographer who ran Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre during the last three decades of the U.S.S.R. The ballet announced his death Monday at the age of 98. From Moscow, NPR's Charles Maynes has the story of a man whose productions were wildly popular at home and potent in the Cold War culture wars.
CHARLES MAYNES, BYLINE: Yuri Grigorovich was born and raised in Stalinist Russia but came to prominence amid the more hopeful political fall that followed - a time when a new generation tried to move past an era defined by repression, war, and pervasive Soviet dogma, including in the arts, says Simon Morrison, a scholar of Soviet ballet at Princeton University.
SIMON MORRISON: When he came onto the scene, Soviet ballet was stuck in this style known as dramballet.
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MAYNES: Drambalet was known for its didactic plots, pantomime gestures and folk movements.
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MAYNES: In contrast, Morrison says Grigorovich - a dancer by training - mirrored younger Soviets growing confidence in the future, with brash new productions that literally soared.
MORRISON: And this really kind of, you know, appealed in the sense that what was going on onstage looked physically not only adventurous, but incredibly, you know, athletic, virtuosic, muscular, dangerous at times.
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MAYNES: If ballet had a reputation as a feminine art form, Grigorovich added prominent roles for men, attracting admirers of both sexes, says ballet fan Svetlana Staris (ph).
SVETLANA STARIS: Those dancers, they were like, you know, colors, which he used as an artist to create these wonderful paintings.
MAYNES: Staris was one of several thousand people lined up to pay their respects outside the Bolshoi Theatre in downtown Moscow on Friday, sharing memories of their first time seeing Grigorovich's versions of "The Nutcracker" or "Swan Lake" - productions that became international sensations.
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YURI GRIGOROVICH: (Speaking Russian).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: We are opening our tour with the ballet "Ivan The Terrible."
MAYNES: In the height of the Cold War, Grigorovich - heard speaking here in a Soviet-era documentary - took his stagings to the West and showcased Soviet supremacy better than any missile ever could. Simon Morrison says Grigorovich's productions appeal to audiences grown tired of abstract dance then in vogue in the West.
MORRISON: And so the Bolshoi would go out, and they had these huge companies, hundreds of dancers, big sets, and they were telling these big stories. And a lot of the people could say, oh, it's kind of kitschy. But the storytelling, people really missed it.
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MAYNES: But excellence came at a price. Back in Moscow, some chafed at what was rumored to be Grigorovich's dictatorial bent, that refusal to expand the repertoire or give others the opportunity. Moscow ballet critic Leila Guchmazova argues, for all Grigorovich's talents, his theater was a product of the society he lived in.
LEILA GUCHMAZOVA: (Through interpreter) You can't expect the ballet to be more democratic, more open than what's beyond its doors.
MAYNES: Grigorovich ultimately parted ways with the Bolshoi in 1995, but his influence never waned. He returned as lead choreographer in 2012 amid a wider push by Russian President Vladimir Putin to celebrate Soviet cultural glory.
GUCHMAZOVA: (Speaking Russian).
MAYNES: Guchmazova, the ballet critic, says the Bolshoi and ballet have always played a strange role in the country's political culture.
(SOUNDBITE OF UNIDENTIFIED ORCHESTRA'S PERFORMANCE OF SERGEI PROKOFIEV'S "IVAN THE TERRIBLE, PART 3: FINALE ")
MAYNES: And even with his passing, Grigorovich remains a link to a gentler side of Russian power in less than gentle times.
Charles Maynes, NPR News, Moscow.
(SOUNDBITE OF UNIDENTIFIED ORCHESTRA'S PERFORMANCE OF SERGEI PROKOFIEV'S "IVAN THE TERRIBLE, PART 3: FINALE ") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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