Anastasia Matvienko and Denis Matvienko in Grand Pas Classique

Anastasia Matvienko and Denis Matvienko in Grand Pas Classique, music by Daniel Auber, choreography by Victor Gsovsky. Stars of Benois de la Danse 2015 – Laureates of Different Years, shot on 27.5.2015 in the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow.

 

Anastasia Matvienko (Rus. Анастасия Матвиенко) is a soloist at Mariinsky Ballet, St Petersburg. Anastasia was born at 1982 in Sevastopol, Ukraine. From 1996 to 2001 she studied at Kiev State Choreographic school. From 2001 to 2007 she was the first soloist of National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Ukraine. From 2007 to 2009 Anastasia was a principal dancer of Opera and Ballet Mikhailovsky, St. Petersburg, Russia. March 2009 Anastasia became a first soloist of Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Denis Matvienko (Rus. Денис Матвиенко) is principal of Mariinsky Theatre. He was born in 1979 in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. From 1989 to 1997 he studied at Kiev State Choreographic School. At June 1997 became the principal ballet-dancer of National opera and ballet theatre of Ukraine. From March 2001 to March 2002 he worked at Mariinsky Theatre (St. Petersburg) as the leading ballet dancer. At January 2003 Denis returned to Kiev state theatre of opera and ballet as principal dancer. From October 2007 to March 2009 Denis was a principal dancer of Mikhailovsky Theatre, St Petersburg, Russia. Starting from March 2009 – principal dancer of Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Victor Gsovsky (Rus. Виктор Гзовский; 1902, Saint Petersburg – 1974, Hamburg) was a Russian ballet dancer, teacher, ballet-master and choreographer. He studied with Mariinsky Theatre prima ballerina Evgenia Sokolova and started his teaching career while still very young. In 1925 Victor Gsovsky left Soviet Russian with his wife Tatjana Gsovsky, whom he had met in Krasnador. Their first engagement was in Berlin, Germany, where he worked as dancer and choreographer at the Berlin State Opera 1925-28 before opening a private school in 1928. From 1930 to 1933 he worked as a choreographer for the German UFA Film Company and undertook smaller tours with his wife and the Ballet Gsovsky. From 1937 he was ballet master of the Markova-Dolin company; in 1938 he began teaching in Paris and in 1945 was appointed ballet master of the Paris Opera Ballet. In 1946-7 he was ballet master with the Ballets des Champs-Elysées and again in 1948 and 1953; with the Metropolitan Ballet in London in 1947. From 1950 to 1952 he was ballet director of the Munich State Opera. From 1950 to 1952 he was ballet director of the Munich State Opera, ballet master in Düsseldorf (1964-7) and at the Hamburg State Opera (1967–70). He staged the first post-war production of La Sylphide for the Ballets des Champs-Elysées in 1946. His best-known work by far is the Grand Pas Classique (mus. Auber, 1949), which is still performed in galas around the world.

Grand Pas Classique to music from Daniel Auber’s Le Dieu et La Bayadere was created by Victor Gsovsky for Yvette Chauviré and Vladimir Skouratoff in Paris, 1949. This choreography became classical and is executed many times by following generations of dancers

Photos by Jack Devant Ballet Photography with kind permission of the Benois de la Danse and Bolshoi Theatre Moscow, special thanks to Nina Kudriavtseva-Loory, Regina Nikiforova and Denis Savchenko.