Yuri Grigorovich, patriarch of Russian ballet whose career spanned 8 decades, dies aged 98

Legendary Russian ballet dancer and choreographer Yuri Grigorovich has died aged 98.

Born in the Soviet city of Leningrad to a ballet family, Grigorovich’s career – as a dancer, then choreographer – spanned 80 years.

He was for three decades the lead choreographer at Moscow’s famed Bolshoi Theatre and its artistic powerhouse, running it with an iron fist, it was said.

“Yuri Grigorovich, one of the key figures in the world of ballet in the second half of the 20th century, has died,” the Bolshoi said on social media.

“An entire era has come to an end,” Saint Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre, where he started his career, posted online.

Grigorovich made his name staging classics such as The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and The Stone Flower. The latter was his most famous piece, based on a series of folk tales from the Ural Mountains accompanied by composer Sergei Prokofiev’s music.

  

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