The great ballerina passed away 4 years ago, shortly before she turned 90
The great ballerina of the 20th century Maya Plisetskaya was born on November 20, 1925. your hands.
She was born in Moscow, in the famous Jewish family of Mikhail Plisetsky (1899 – 1938) and Raquel Messerer (1902 – 1993).
Her mother is silent film actress Ra Messerer. Her father, an economist by education, worked in the highest authorities of Soviet Russia, was engaged in the production of the first Soviet films, at the end of his career was Consul General of the USSR on the Norwegian island of Svalbard and director of a coal mining company in The Arctic.
Maya grew up in a family associated with the art of ballet – the famous ballet master and ballet teacher Asaf Messerer (1903 – 1992) was her uncle, and her maternal aunt, Sulamif Messerer (1908 – 2004), was a ballerina and prima of the Bolshoi Theater. Her brothers Alexander Plisetsky (1931-1985) and Azary Plisetsky (1937) also became famous choreographers.
From 1932 to 1934, Maya lived with her family in Svalbard. After returning to Moscow, he entered the choreographic school. At the age of eleven, he appeared on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater for the first time and performed the part of the little fairy in Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Sleeping Beauty. In 1937, during Stalin’s political repression, her father was arrested and executed in 1938. As his wife, Raquel Messerer was also arrested and sent with her youngest 7-month-old son to one of the Gulag labor camps in Kazakhstan. Until her release in 1941, Maya was cared for by her aunt Sulamif, who adopted her to save her from being sent to an orphanage.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, in September 1941, the family was evacuated to Sverdlovsk, where he lived until September 1942. There are no conditions for ballet in the city, but it was there that Maya had her first public performance of the ballet miniature “The Dying Swan” to the music of Camille Saint-Saens.
In 1942, without her mother’s permission, she left for Moscow and continued her studies at the choreographic school, in the class of the great ballerina Elizabeth Gerdt. In 1943 he graduated from school and entered the Bolshoi Theater. He was in the corps de ballet for a short time, but not because of his professional qualities, but as a result of the complicated relationship with his aunt Sulamif, who at that time distributed the roles in the ballet productions. The first participation as a soloist was in the main part of Masha in Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Hazelnut Crusher” in 1944.
Until 1959, she was not allowed to tour the theater abroad due to her rebellious nature and political reasons. The ban fell with a decision of the then leader of the USSR Nikita Khrushchev. After Galina Ulanova left the stage in 1960, Maya was named “prima ballerina assoluta” at the Bolshoi Theater. She considers it her home scene, where she feels best. But controversies with officials of all ranks, both in theatrical circles and in politics, haunted the independent Maya throughout her career.
In 1983 he became artistic director of the ballet troupe of the Roman Opera and held this position until 1985. From 1988 to 1990 he headed the Spanish National Ballet in Madrid.
In 1990, she formally left the Bolshoi Theater due to retirement, but was effectively fired due to disagreements with the management. He left Russia, but continued to appear on stage, actively collaborating with the world-famous ballet troupes “Marseille Ballet” by Roland Petit and “XX Century” by Maurice Bejart. Her activity is not limited to participation in ballet productions. She travels a lot with concerts and master classes. He organized an international ballet competition in his own name, the first edition of which was held in August 1994 in St. Petersburg on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater. She initiated the creation of the Imperial Russian Ballet in 1995 and in 1996 was elected its honorary president.
Maya Plisetskaya is present in the cinema with numerous adaptations of ballet productions, she has acted in several feature films. Documentaries, including French and Japanese television, are dedicated to her. He has published several autobiographical books.
In her memoirs, Maya Plisetskaya talks about her love affairs with ballet dancers Vyacheslav Golubin (1923 – 1953) and Esfendiyar Kashani. In 1956 she married the soloist of the Bolshoi Theater Maris Liepa, but this marriage lasted only 3 months. In 1958 he married the composer Rodion Shchedrin (1932), with whom he was together until the end. Shchedrin composed several ballets especially for his wife, emphasizing that he was not a ballet dancer, but a “Mayan”. Plisetskaya herself says that her husband has significantly contributed to her creative longevity.
Shchedrin and Plisetskaya have no children at Maya’s request. At the beginning of their marriage, she became pregnant, but decided to have an abortion so as not to interrupt her rising ballet career at the time. Shchedrin shows understanding and supports his wife in this decision.
In 1999, Plisetskaya filed a lawsuit over the publication of the existence of her illegitimate daughter. In 2001, he won the case and put an end to these rumors.
Plisetskaya became a legend during her lifetime, had a profound influence on the art of ballet and remained forever in its history.
She is known for her jumping height, exceptional plasticity, technical virtuosity, deep artistry. She is famous for the elegance of her hands, which turn the performance of “The Dying Swan” – a ballet miniature, gained fame by Anna Pavlova – into the emblem of Maya. Some of Maya’s most famous roles are Odette-Odile in Swan Lake (1947) and Aurora in Sleeping Beauty (1961).
From the very beginning, Maya was very original as a ballerina. She is a supporter of the classical school, which she considers obligatory for every ballet dancer, but she boldly breaks the canons and strives for a new choreography. In the conditions of theatrical life in the Bolshoi Theater during the Soviet era, it was necessary to resist restrictions of all kinds and to fight for the right to dance in one’s own way.
In addition to the roles from the ballet classics, which bring constant and huge success all over the world, Plisetskaya delights her audience with the magnificent performances of parties from new ballet productions. Significant in this respect is the role of Carmen in the Suite “Carmen”, first shown on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater on April 20, 1967. The members of the family take part in the preparation of the ballet: her husband Rodion Shchedrin reworked the music of the opera for 20 days. Carmen “by Georges Bizet, cousin Boris Messerer created the sets. Cuban choreographer Alberto Alonso invents a choreography that impresses with its originality, but is not to the liking of cultural administration officials. They do not allow the staging of “Expo-67” in Canada, although the Bolshoi Theater participates in its cultural program. But the ballet still finds its way to the spectator and in a short time gained world fame.
Together with her husband Plisetskaya she found inspiration in classical Russian literature and drama. In 1971, Rodion Shchedrin reworked his music for the film “Anna Karenina” and gave Maya a ballet of the same name. Ballet is also Maya’s first choreographic experience. The first performance was on June 10, 1972. Again, the passionate and bright party of Anna Karenina did not like the government, and the ballet, despite the recognition of the audience, found it difficult to make its way. Years later, he staged two more ballets to the music of Shchedrin – “The Seagull” and “The Lady with the Puppy”, with which he made successful tours on world stages. The costumes for these productions are made by the famous French fashion designer Pierre Cardin, with whom Maya has a long friendship. A fan of her art, he has repeatedly presented her with his Espas Pierre Cardin Theater in Paris, on whose stage frequent guests are world art stars. She, in turn, parades at his fashion show.
Plisetskaya, according to her, choreographs the ballet productions herself due to the impossibility to work with the ballet masters who have close views and ideas. However, she managed to make her dreams come true – she worked with the French choreographers Maurice Bejart, Roland Petit and Serge Lifar, who created unique works with her and for her. The resounding success in France did not facilitate their transfer to Moscow. To get permission to dance “Bolero” to Ravel’s music on the Bolshoi stage, Plisetskaya reached out to President Leonid Brezhnev.
The evening of the Moscow premiere is also remembered because of the crowd gathered in the theater square, which is waiting for the decision of the authorities. After its announcement, the spectators literally burst into the hall, sweeping the fences.
Plisetskaya and Bejart’s creative friendship lasted until the end of her life. She received a gift from Bejart as a gift for her 70th anniversary of the ballet “Kurozuka”. The ancient Japanese music on which it is based was arranged by contemporary composer Toshiro Mayuzumi. She danced this ballet in Paris on October 11, 1995. For the next anniversary, he presented her with the ballet miniature “Ave Maya” to the music of Bach-Gounod, and Plisetskaya performed it at the age of 75, demonstrating her ballet longevity.
The eroticism of her heroines was unacceptable at the time and created additional obstacles to the performance of some productions on the Bolshoi stage. The ballet “Leda” in ancient Japanese music, staged by Bejart for Maya, was banned and never performed in the USSR. There is also resistance to the performance of “Isadora” – a solo ballet in folk music, specially created for Maya by Bejart and shown for the first time in Monaco. “The Sick Rose” began to be rehearsed after the protection of the famous French writer Louis Aragon before the leadership of the USSR, who intervened at the request of the choreographer Petty. Phaedra, choreographed by Lifar, premiered at the Moscow Operetta Theater, but after being performed at the Odeon Theater in Paris and on the stage of the Roman Opera.
During her work in Spain, Plisetskaya staged the choreography of Hertel’s ballet “Vain Caution,” Puccini’s opera-ballet “Willis.” There he performed “The Dying Swan” under the voice of the famous opera singer Montserrat Cabaye.
Always looking for new, original solutions, in recent years she has collaborated with Japanese artists, with whom she creates unusual ballet productions. On August 31, 2000, the premiere of the performance “Wings of a Kimono” was presented on the stage of the Tokyo Kokusai Forum, uniting the traditional Japanese theater No with classical ballet. Plisetskaya dances her party not in a classical ballet style, but using the sculpture of the No Theater. The Japanese audience, which knows and appreciates Plisetskaya’s repertoire, welcomes the unusual performance with applause. In 2003, together with the Takarazuka Theater Company, he staged the musical “Song of the Kingdoms” based on Verdi’s “Aida”. The latest Japanese project, which is a plastic improvisation of the relationship between the beautiful fairy and an earthly man, has its premiere in the ancient Japanese city of Kyoto. The cultural monument, which is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, is used as a stage.
After the collapse of the USSR, he lived mainly in Munich, but often visited Moscow and St. Petersburg. During this period he received German, Spanish and Lithuanian citizenship. He spends his holidays mainly in Lithuania, where he has a villa. She appeared on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater for the last time during the celebration of her 75th anniversary and performed the ballet miniature “Ave Maya” created especially for her by Maurice Bejart.
The great Maya Plisetskaya left this world in her dream in Munich on May 2, 2015 from a heart attack. Her body was cremated at her request. She wished her dust to be scattered over Russia along with the dust of her husband Rodion Shchedrin after his death.
Plisetskaya was active until the last moment of her life and participated in the preparation of her 90th anniversary. She conceived and wrote the script and the program for the holiday concert herself. The concert took place, but … posthumously – on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater and, with the exception of the participation of the Japanese troupe “Takarazuka”, all her wishes were fulfilled.
