Russian choreographer Yuri Grigorovich dies at 98

Yuri Grigorovich, the longtime choreographer at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, has died at 98. He was the artictic director of the theatre for more than three decades.

Grigorovich was born in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) in 1927 to a family of ballet dancers and circus artists, which may explain the acrobatic quality in much of his choreography.

His career spanned eight decades – first as a performer and later as a choreographer – and as head of the Bolshoi, he had unrivalled power in the world of ballet.

He trained at the Vaganova Academy and joined Kirov Ballet (now Mariinsky) in 1946 dancing character roles as he was only slightly over 150cm tall. His production in 1957 of The Stone Flower for the company was a success and started him on his new career path. He created versions of many repertoire pieces – The Nutcracker and Swan Lake being the most famous.

Grigorovich became director of the Bolshoi company in 1964 and four years later created his best-known work, Spartacus.

It was in 1967, during the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution, that the Kremlin requested a new version of Spartacus. As a soloist at the Kirov, Grigorovich had danced in the premiere of Aram Khachaturian’s ballet in 1956, with choreography by Leonid Yakobson. The premiere in 1968 was in the theatre inside the Kremlin, and it was hailed as a celebration of virility and masculinity. Khachaturian had reworked his score to accommodate Grigorovich’s vision.

When the New York Times reviewed the ballet’s premiere in London in 1969, Clive Barnes wrote, “It is good versus bad, the oppressed slaves against the might of Imperial Rome. If there is any political message in it, I suspect that different people may well find different interpretations to the message. One man’s North Vietnam might be another man’s Czechoslovakia – that is always the advantage of allegories.”

Asked about Grigorovich, Bolshoi principal dancer Denis Rodkin, a celebrated recent Spartacus, said, “He was able to see in artists what we ourselves did not notice. He helped us fully express ourselves on stage, making us feel and experience every moment.”

In 1995, Grigorovich left the Bolshoi amid criticism that the company was artistically stagnant during his final years, a fact somewhat amplified by the collapse of the Soviet Union and its opening up to the West. In Jennifer Homans‘ book Apollo’s Angels, she writes, “The Bolshoi kept going, but after Spartacus it was running on old energy, recycling past glories, fighting old ideological battles.”

His signature works remained in the repertoire, but it wasn’t his last time working in the theatre. After Alexei Ratmansky resigned as artistic director of the Bolshoi in 2008 (he led the company from 2004), Grigorovich returned as chief choreographer – he was 81.

Yury Grigorovich: born 2 January 1927, died 19 May 2025

Gramilano Editor

Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.

Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.

He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.