Leonid Yakobson

Leonid Veniaminovich Yakobson (sometimes spelled Jacobson; ; January 2, 1904 (January 15, 1904 O.S.) – October 17, 1975) was a Jewish ballet choreographer from Russia. He was the founder of the Yacobson Ballet.

Life and career Yakobson was born in St. Petersburg. He staged his first ballets when he was still a student at the Leningrad Choreographic School. His first works were in sharp contrast to the views of the established classical ballet school and he immediately found himself in conflict with the Soviet party and ballet officials and experts, in particular with Agrippina Vaganova. Yakobson graduated in 1926

His first work was choreographing the second act of The Golden Age, a 1930 ballet by Dmitri Shostakovich. The act required athleticism from the dancers; overall, the ballet targeted young people. The ballet itself was heavily politicized: its plot revolved around Soviet football players going to a bourgeois country where they were baited by police, fascists, and capitalists. The plot required the inclusion of such dances as tango, foxtrot, and tap dancing, which at the time were forbidden in the Soviet Union. The ballet was shown a total of eighteen times and then was banned. In 1931, Agrippina Vaganova became the head of the Ballet Theater and denied Yakobson any further choreographic work. He created in the Kirov theater a number of other ballets including the Bedbug (based on the piece by Vladimir Mayakovsky), Wonderland, Twelve (after the poem by Alexander Blok), but the censors would not let them on stage, since they thought the ballets to be inappropriate for Soviet audience.

By that time, Yakobson was officially recognized as a talented choreographer, and his ambition was to become a chief choreographer in a public theater. After an initial failure in Moscow, where apparently Igor Moiseyev with his Folk Dance Ensemble was chosen ahead of him, Yakobson tried Leningrad. Officials promised to appoint him, but appointed Pyotr Gusev instead. However, Gusev immediately invited Yakobson to work with him. After some time, the authorities fired Gusev, and Yakobson was left alone to manage the theater. The theatre was named Choreographic Miniatures.

But a few years later Leonid Yakobson was diagnosed with cancer. The last attack occurred in September 1975 in Moscow at the time of admission to the Minister of Culture Pyotr Demichev. Yakobson was immediately sent to hospital. He died on October 17, 1975, in the Kremlin hospital. Yakobson was buried in Leningrad.

Many years passed.

Theatre Choreographic Miniatures now bears the name of Leonid Yakobson. Leonid Yakobson’choreography is restored by the next generation of choreographers.

In 2001, Leonid Yakobson's widow Irina Pevzner (ru: Ирина Певзнер) published in the U.S. (not in Russia!) his book Letters to Noverre (ru: «Письма к Новерру», N. Y.: Hermitage publishers. 2001, ; Jean-Georges Noverre (1727–1810) was a French balletmaster and the creator of ballet d'action). In this book Yakobson presented his theoretical views on the choreography.