Yury Grigorovich

Yury Nikolayevich Grigorovich (; 2 January 1927 – 19 May 2025) was a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, ballet master, choreographer, and pedagogue who dominated the Russian ballet for 30 years, especially as artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet from 1964 to 1995. His choreographies of The Stone Flower, Ivan the Terrible and Romeo and Juliet are said to have "redefined Soviet ballet". to a family connected with the Imperial Russian Ballet; his uncle Georgy Rozai had been a pupil of Vaslav Nijinsky and dancer with the Mariinsky Theatre and the Ballet Russes. He graduated from the Leningrad Choreographic School in 1946 He created eight new ballets, often with Virsaladze as scenic designer, and versions of classical ballets, the basis of the Bolshoi repertoire. His most famous productions there were full-length narrative ballets: Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker in 1966, Khachaturian's Spartacus in 1967, and Ivan the Terrible in 1975. His choreography of The Nutcracker was performed at the Vienna State Opera 125 times between 1973 and 1997.

Grigorovich choreographed Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet in 1979, and Shostakovich's The Golden Age. He controversially reworked Swan Lake to produce a happy end for the story in 1984. In 1995, he was accused of having allowed the theatre to plunge into stagnation and after many a squabble was ousted from office. including the Prix Benois de la Danse

In Moscow, Grigorovich met ballerina Natalia Bessmertnova, who danced the main roles in the ballets he choreographed. on the same day as one of his fellow ballet dancers and collaborators, Yuri Vladimirov. People's Artist of the USSR (1973) Two Orders of Lenin (1976, 1986) Two USSR State Prizes (1977, 1985) Order of the October Revolution (1981) State Hamza Prize (1983) Hero of Socialist Labour (1986) Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class (2002) for outstanding contribution to the development of choreographic art Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class (2007) for outstanding contribution to the development of domestic and international choreographic art, many years of creative activity Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 1st class (2011) Order of St. Andrew (2017) State Prize of the Russian Federation (2017)