How is farewell to Yuri Grigorovich
On Friday, May 23, they read poetry on theatrical square: in line to the big and from his scene. The lines of Pushkin, Akhmatova, Pasternak sounded in memory of the choreographer Yuri Grigorovich, for 30 years led the ballet troupe of the country’s main theater. On the historical scene, his colleagues and students, who thanked him for the remarkable roles and noted that in everything he did and what he taught, there were no simple movements, but there were meaning and feelings.
– That’s the same way we used to stand in line to get a ticket to the ballet, several hours!
– Yes, we don’t get used to it, for the sake of such art you can wait a few days.
In the morning, the theatrical square was fenced by a fence, along which a noticeable crowd gathered by 11 o’clock – they said goodbye to the choreographer Yuri Grigorovich at the Bolshoi Theater.
The theater’s leadership decided to farewell to everyone, but at the entrance they were awaiting a thorough inspection. Meanwhile, the neighbors took turns not missing the opportunity to boast of their cultural experience in front of each other.
“I remember, I saw him back in Soviet times, they sat in the waiting room at Chicago Airport with him. You see where I have come?! » – a gray -haired man with a bouquet of roses smiled. “Yes, Chicago, not bad,” the elderly woman in a hat grinned in response. “And I’m a translator, I myself took the Americans here to Spartak.” So it was possible to see. » Others nodded with interest. « And what, the Americans liked it? » – they asked the translator. “Still, even they understood the power of the talent of Yuri Nikolaevich,” she answered with a breath. “I generally became incorporeal. The whole production had to stand, who would give me a place. But I did not feel either my legs, no back, or fatigue, nothing at all – I dissolved in the ballet. ”
With no less aspiration at the other end of the line, another elderly woman with bright red hair declared Pushkin. « » Until the poet for the sacred victim Apollo, « remember? So he requested him now, without waiting for a century, ”she interpreted the poet’s lines. “What an anniversary would be then,” her interlocutor lamented. “I myself, by the way, devoted poetry to Grigorovich.” Kommersant could not hear their correspondent – the reversed queue was actively pushed by different ages with emphasized straight backs. “Skip us, we are honored and folk, the ballerinas ourselves, we need inward,” they turned to the guard. But he remained adamant: « We launch on the command until it was. »
The ballerinas, apparently not having the experience of a long standing in theatrical lines, rolled their eyes together, but resigned themselves and decided to discuss exactly how the organizers installed the coffin. “Do you think on stage? To make flowers from below? It would be convenient, ”the blonde suggested. “No, no, the scene is not for this. They will install under the chandelier, ”the neighbors answered her. A few minutes later the gathered nevertheless launched into the hall. The coffin with the body of the choreographer really stood in front of the stage, laid down by wreaths. The scene itself was empty – and only in the depths the huge portrait of the choreographer rose – captured in profile, he seemed to look at the who came to say goodbye to him, and the Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimov, the director of the large Valery Gergiev and the rector of the Russian Ballet Academy named after A. Ya. Vaganova Nikolai Tsiscaridze, took place in the front row.
The host of the ceremony at least half an hour read out telegrams of first persons, including President Vladimir Putin, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova and speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko. Then the manager invited everyone to the microphone, « who would like to say a few words about this great man. » The first word was taken by the academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Andrei Zolotov. “You won’t confuse real tenderness with anything,” he quoted Anna Akhmatov. “He gave us a minute of truth of tenderness. He spread time into the past and the future, and now in front of his coffin, Shostakovich, and Ulanova, and even Tchaikovsky – all whose creations live thanks to Yuri Nikolayevich. «
“He was a poet of dance,” picked up the ex-soloist of the Bolshoi Theater Boris Akimov. “We were witnesses of how the masterpieces were created-and he gave us remarkable roles. In the sky of choreography, his star will burn forever. » Ballerina Margarita Drozdova recalled that Yuri Grigorovich « installed a high bar all of us. »
“He always taught that there are no simple movements, everything should make sense. And everything should have feelings. And we retain this commandment, ”she concluded.
Minister of Culture of the Republic of Mari El, choreographer Konstantin Ivanov recalled: « Yuri Nikolaevich gave us all the world of men’s dance. » While the official was indulging in the memories of cooperation with the choreographer, the ballerina Anastasia Volochkova suddenly buried his shoulder, drowning the speech with a loud sob. “Kostya, Kostya, because you and I went out for the first time to dance in Lake Swan. And Kolya Tsiscaridze is with us, ”she wailed. Sitting nearby, Nikolai Tsiskaridze froze in an armchair, but Mr. Ivanov did not embarrass his ex-partner and finished his speech.
“When the feeling dictates the feeling, it sends a slave to the stage, and then art ends, and soil and fate are breathing,” Nikolai Tsiscaridze himself read out the poem by Boris Pasternak. “Yuri Nikolaevich formed our fate. And if he loved someone, then he watched him intently and constantly cared, ”the artist recalled.“ There were few of us, and we were chosen for a reason. He was strict with us, did not give us any roles due to age or role, and concern through all this. ”
By one o’clock in the afternoon, a crowd of fans who lay flowers to the coffin dried up, and the presenter invited everyone to the street to conduct a choreographer with applause. People reached out to the exit.
Theatrical Square was flooded with the midday sun – and gathered, squinting, stumbled upon each other. The coffin with the body of the choreographer was carried to the square, and the applause did not silent at least ten minutes. Passing people joined the applause. At the moment when the hearse drove away from the theater, the sun sharply closed the clouds.
“Well, it turns out, the sun of Russian ballet has set,” they concluded in the crowd.
Later, the choreographer is cremated and buried at the Novodevichy cemetery next to the wife, Ballerina Natalia Imortnova.
