Igor Moiseyev Obituary
Igor Moiseyev
Igor Moiseyev, the master choreographer who created a new form of theatrical folk dance in Russia and whose troupe was one of the most popular dance companies of the twentieth century, died recently in Moscow. He was 101.
Igor Aleksandrovich Moiseyev (pronounced moy-SAY-yeff) was born in Kiev, Ukraine, in 1906, the only child of a Russian lawyer and a French-Romanian seamstress. After the family returned to Russia he studied ballet privately in Moscow, then entered the Bolshoi Ballet School in 1921. From 1924 to 1939 he was a member of the Bolshoi.
In 1936 Moiseyev was appointed dance director of the Moscow Theater of Folk Art, from which emerged, a year later, the Soviet Union’s first folk-dance ensemble. Officially known as the State Academic Folk Dance Ensemble of the Soviet Union, the troupe was usually billed in the West simply as the Moiseyev Dance Company. Most of Moiseyev’s works were inspired by the traditions of the various regions in the Soviet Union.
Moiseyev attributed his dancers’ virtuosity and versatility to their training in classical ballet, which he described in a 1970 interview as “the grammar of movement.” “With ballet technique as a base,” he added, “one can do everything.” He continued to work with traditional ballet companies throughout his career. In 1958, he staged his own version of “Spartacus” for the Bolshoi Ballet.
Moiseyev married the dancer Tamara Zeifert in 1940; she became his choreographic assistant. Other members of the company included their daughter, Olga Moiseyeva, and her husband, Boris Petrov. Moiseyev married a second time, and his wife is among his survivors.