Word: grigorovich
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...center of the troupe's difficulties is its wiry, intense artistic director, Yuri Grigorovich, 53. There is a widespread feeling among the dancers that he is arbitrary and dictatorial, plays too many favorites and tampers heavyhandedly with the traditional repertory, while stifling new choreography by reserving the major assignments for himself. Prima Ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, now 54 and a revered figure in the U.S.S.R., has become leader of a rebellious faction of Bolshoi veterans, including Maris Liepa and Mikhail Lavrovsky. Many younger dancers, not outspoken, are nevertheless known to feel that Grigorovich denies them opportunities if they fail...
...some of Grigorovich's problems appear to be backstage ego jostling, many others involve fundamental questions of policy. A former character dancer, he came to the Bolshoi in 1964 from its great rival, the Kirov, bringing successful new works with him. Then as now, the Kirov exemplified the ideal of a pure, classical style. The Bolshoi, by contrast, championed a more soulfully Slavic style, often bold and gaudy. Grigorovich seemed to offer the hope of synthesizing the best of both companies. In 1968 he created a hit, Spartacus, with its surging mass movements, virile male roles and a long...
Since then, however, his work has begun to seem monotonous and eccentric. Two years ago, in an unusual article in Pravda, the much beloved Liepa accused Grigorovich of showing a "disrespectful attitude" in his sweeping revisions of traditional productions like Romeo and Juliet...
...Grigorovich had a lot riding on last year's U.S. tour. A smashing success could have reconfirmed the Bolshoi's stature, boosted morale and quieted the critics. His dancers certainly won their share of bravos: his wife Natalya Bessmertnova, Godunov before his departure, and the young ballerina Lyudmila Semenyaka. In particular, audiences took to their hearts the husband-wife team of Vyacheslav Gordeyev and Nadezhda Pavlova. But Grigorovich's choreography only came in for more lumps. Then there were the defections. Grigorovich returned to Moscow more embattled than ever. He is well connected in the bureaucracy...
...travel privileges; the Bolshoi was unlikely to tour the U.S., or perhaps even Western Europe, for a long time to come. A purge was expected of secret police officials in charge of keeping the Bolshoi dancers in line, just as happened in 1961, after Nureyev's defection. Grigorovich was already vulnerable because of fierce opposition within the company to his authoritarian rule; the defection could only make his position worse. It was said that he had insisted on taking Godunov to the U.S., and that he had compounded his error by thrusting Kozlov forward. In Moscow, he had previously...