Alexander Viktorovich Shiryaev ( rus, Александр Викторович Ширяев; — 25 April 1941) was a Russian

ballet dancer A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on ye ...

, ballet master and

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who c ...

, founder of

character dance Character dance is a specific subdivision of classical dance. It is the stylized representation of a traditional folk or national dance, mostly from European countries, and uses movements and music which have been adapted for the theater. Char ...

Russian ballet Russian ballet (russian: Русский балет) (french: Ballet russe) is a form of ballet characteristic of or originating from Russia. Imperial Russian Ballet Until 1689, ballet in Russia was nonexistent (ballet has its origins in the cour ...

who served at the

Mariinsky Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre ( rus, Мариинский театр, Mariinskiy teatr, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music th ...

. Shiryaev was also a pioneering

animation director An animation director is either the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated film or television, and animated segment for a live action film or television show, or the animator in charge of co ...

who is credited with invention of

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

animation.

Early life

Alexander Shiryaev was born into an artistic family; both of his parents performed at the

Bolshoi Theatre The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, literally "Big Theater", p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈatər) is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds ballet and ope ...

: his mother Ekaterina Ksenophontovna Shiryaeva was a ballet dancer, member of

corps de ballet In ballet, the ''corps de ballet'' (; French for "body of the ballet") is the group of dancers who are not principal dancers or soloists. They are a permanent part of the ballet company and often work as a backdrop for the principal dancers. ...

, and his father Hector (Viktor) Cesarovich Puni was a flautist who studied under

Cesare Ciardi Cesare Ciardi (28 June 1818 – 13 June 1877) was an Italian flautist and composer. Life Born at Prato to a Tuscan family, Ciardi eventually settled in 1853 in Russia, where he was appointed in 1862 as professor at the Saint Petersburg Conserv ...

.Alexander Shiryaev.
St. Petersburg Ballet. From Reminiscences of the Mariinsky Theatre Artist
' memoirs from the ''Notes by Film Historian'' magazine № 67, 2004, pp. 61—101 (in Russian) According to the Soviet ballerina Ninel Yultyeva, he was an illegitimate child, raised under his mother's surname.
Adagio of My Memory
' fragment from the 2006 book of the same name by Ninel Yultieva published in the ''Vatandash'' magazine (in Russian) His paternal grandfather

Cesare Pugni Cesare Pugni (; russian: Цезарь Пуни, Cezar' Puni; 31 May 1802 in Genoa – ) was an Italian composer of ballet music, a pianist and a violinist. In his early career he composed operas, symphonies, and various other forms of orches ...

was a famous

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

composer of ballet music who moved to Russia in 1851 to work for

Imperial Theatres Imperial Theatres of Russian Empire ( rus, Императорские театры Российской империи) was a theatrical organization financed by the Imperial exchequer and managed by a single directorate headed with a director; was ...

. Alexander's cousin

Ivan Puni Ivan Albertovich Puni (russian: Иван Альбертович Пуни; also known as Jean Pougny; 20 February 1892 – 28 December 1956) was a Russian avant-garde artist (Suprematist, Cubo-Futurist). Biography Early life Ivan Puni was born in ...

was a well-known

Russian avant-garde The Russian avant-garde was a large, influential wave of avant-garde modern art that flourished in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, approximately from 1890 to 1930—although some have placed its beginning as early as 1850 and its e ...

artist. At the age of nine Alexander entered the Saint Petersburg Imperial Theatrical School where he studied under

Marius Petipa Marius Ivanovich Petipa (russian: Мариус Иванович Петипа), born Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa (11 March 1818), was a French ballet dancer, pedagogue and choreographer. Petipa is one of the most influential ballet masters an ...

Pavel Gerdt Pavel Andreyevich Gerdt (russian: Па́вел Андре́евич Ге́рдт), also known as Paul Gerdt (near Saint Petersburg, Russia, 22 November 1844 – Vamaloki, Finland, 12 August 1917), was the ''Premier Danseur Noble'' of the Imperial ...

Platon Karsavin Platon Konstantinovich Karsavin (russian: Платон Константинович Карсавин; 17 November 1854, Saint Petersburg – 1922, Saint Petersburg) was a dancer with the Russian Imperial Ballet in St Petersburg, and afterwards a ...

and

Lev Ivanov Lev Ivanovich Ivanov (russian: link=no, Лев Ива́нович Ива́нов; 2 March 1834, Moscow – 24 December 1901, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer and later, Second Balletmaster of the Imperial Ballet. ...

. He graduated in 1885 and in a year became a member of the

troupe.

Ballet career

Shiryaev quickly rose to fame. During the studies he already managed to learn almost the entire repertoire of Mariinka, thus he easily substituted solo performers, both in classical and character roles. Shiryaev's musical talent and extraordinary visual memory gained him a place of Marius Petipa's assistant and tutor. He easily recollected all movements, reconstructing and finishing ballets after his teacher. He helped to stage '' The Seasons'', ''

Harlequinade ''Harlequinade'' is a British comic theatrical genre, defined by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' as "that part of a pantomime in which the harlequin and clown play the principal parts". It developed in England between the 17th and mid-19th cent ...

'', ''The Trial of Damis'', among others. As a ballet master he helped Petipa to bring back such ballets as ''Coppélia'', ''The Little Humpbacked'', '' The Pharaoh's Daughter'', '' Tsar Kandavl or Le Roi Candaule'' and ''

Giselle ''Giselle'' (; ), originally titled ''Giselle, ou les Wilis'' (, ''Giselle, or The Wilis''), is a romantic ballet (" ballet-pantomime") in two acts with music by Adolphe Adam. Considered a masterwork in the classical ballet performance canon ...

''. Around the same time he became deeply interested in

. In 1891 Shiryaev, aged 24, opened and headed the first character class under the Theatrical School. He studied and implemented elements of

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, Hungarian, Spanish and other national dances into his ballets. He was the first performer of the Buffoon part in ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaik ...

'' (the role was edited out from later productions) which he also staged, gaining praise from

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

himself. He also performed the buffoon dance from '' Mlada'', Russian dance from '' Dubrovsky'', dance of jesters and

skomorokh A skomorokh ( in Russian, in Old East Slavic, in Church Slavonic. Compare with the Old Polish , ) was a medieval East Slavic harlequin, or actor, who could also sing, dance, play musical instruments and compose for oral/musical and dramatic p ...

s from '' The Merchant Kalashnikov'' and other operas directed by Lev Ivanov. Some of his famous ballet performances include Carabosse in '' The Sleeping Beauty'', Ivanushka in '' The Little Humpbacked Horse'', Quasimodo in '' La Esmeralda'', Harlequin in ''

'', Dr. Coppélius in ''

Coppélia ''Coppélia'' (sometimes subtitled: ''La Fille aux Yeux d'Émail'' (The Girl with the Enamel Eyes)) is a comic ballet from 1870 originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to the music of Léo Delibes, with libretto by Charles-Louis-Étie ...

'' and Abderakhman in '' Raymonda''. In 1905 a new director of Imperial Theatres made Shiryaev leave the theatre. After that Shiryaev spent a lot of time touring around Europe. He also opened a training school in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

; his students later joined the troupe led by

Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlovna Pavlova ( , rus, Анна Павловна Павлова ), born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova ( rus, Анна Матвеевна Павлова; – 23 January 1931), was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20t ...

. After the

October revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mom ...

he worked both as a dancer and a pedagogue in the Mariinsky and

Alexandrinsky Theatre The Alexandrinsky Theatre (russian: Александринский театр) or National Drama Theatre of Russia is a theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The Alexandrinsky Theatre was built for the Imperial troupe of Petersburg (Imperial tr ...

s, restoring forgotten ballets. In 1921 he left the stage and became a teacher at the Leningrad Choreographic Institute where he had worked for the rest of his life. Among his students were such acclaimed artists as

Michel Fokine Michael Fokine, ''Mikhail Mikhaylovich Fokin'', group=lower-alpha ( – 22 August 1942) was a groundbreaking Imperial Russian choreographer and dancer. Career Early years Fokine was born in Saint Petersburg to a prosperous merchant an ...

, Fyodor Lopukhov,

Pyotr Gusev Pyotr Andreyevich Gusev (russian: Пётр Андреевич Гусев) was a ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer. He was born on 29 December, 1904 in St. Petersburg. He studied at the St. Petersburg School of Choreography under . He was a ...

Galina Ulanova Galina Sergeyevna Ulanova (russian: Галина Сергеевна Уланова, ; 21 March 1998) was a Russian ballet dancer. She is frequently cited as being one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century. Biography Ulanova was born ...

, Yury Grigorovich, Nina Anisimova.

Animation

During his 1904—1905 visits to London Shiryaev acquired a 17.5 mm film Biokam camera and started filming ballets, as well as making home movies involving his family, comedy and trick films. His suggestion to film primary dancers of the Mariinka for free was rejected by the theatre management.

Nina Alovert Nina Nikolaevna Alovert (; born 1935) is a ballet photographer and writer. She lives in the United States, following her emigration from the Soviet Union in 1977. Alovert was the photographer for the 1986 Emmy Award-winning program ''Wolf Trapp P ...

.
Belated Premier. Past Pages Come to Life
' article from the Russian Bazaar magazine, January, 2005 (in Russian) After that he built an improvised studio at his apartment where he carefully recreated various ballets by staging them using hand-made dolls which he created from either clay or

papier-mâché upright=1.3, Mardi Gras papier-mâché masks, Haiti upright=1.3, Papier-mâché Catrinas, traditional figures for day of the dead celebrations in Mexico Papier-mâché (, ; , literally "chewed paper") is a composite material consisting of p ...

; they were 20—25 centimeters tall, and their body parts were connected by thin wire which provided plasticity. He then filmed them on camera, frame by frame. In the process he also made thousands of sketches, catching every movement, also turning them into a filming reel so that one could watch the entire dance in form of a cartoon. From 1906 to 1909 Shiryav produced a number of pioneering

and traditionally animated films. This happened at least several years before

Ladislas Starevich Ladislas Starevich (russian: Владисла́в Алекса́ндрович Старе́вич, pl, Władysław Starewicz; August 8, 1882 – February 26, 1965) was a Polish-Russian stop-motion animator notable as the author of the first pup ...

— another influential Russian animator who had been long credited with invention of stop motion animation — produced his first films. Although Shiryav didn't hold much interest in animation as an art form, but rather saw it as an instrument in studying human plastics, using his films for educational purposes.

Peter Lord Peter Lord CBE (born 1953) is an English animator, director, producer and co-founder of the Academy Award-winning Aardman Animations studio, an animation firm best known for its clay-animated films and shorts, particularly those featuring p ...

.
The start of stop-frame
' article from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', November 14, 2008 During the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

period those films were mostly forgotten, although Fyodor Lopukhov and some other memoirists mentioned his animation experiments in their books. Ninel Yultyeva described how Shiryaev produced around 1700 drawings and filmed them just to demonstrate one complex dance to his students. For a Hindu dance from ''

La Bayadère ''La Bayadère'' ("the temple dancer") ( ru. «Баядерка», ''Bayaderka'') is a ballet, originally staged in four acts and seven tableaux by French choreographer Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus. The ballet was staged especiall ...

'' he prepared clay figures and made them repeat every movement on camera; his film was later used during the restoration of

's ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre. In 1995 a Russian documentarist and ballet historian Viktor Bocharov started researching information on Shiryaev's animation experiments. He was soon contacted by Daniil Savelyev, a ballet photographer who personally knew the family. He got hold of the entire archive from the last wife of Alexander Shiryaev's son and kept it safe. Bocharov spent many years trying to get financing from

Roskino Roskino (Russian: Роскино), formerly Roskomkino (Роскомкино), is a state body representing Russian industry of audiovisual content on the international markets, a national operator for the promotion of films, series and animation a ...

in order to restore the films and produce a documentary. In 2003 he finally released the one-hour movie entitled ''A Belated Premiere'' which included fragments of different films by Shiryaev. Around 2008 Bocharov finally managed to get fundings from the

Pordenone Silent Film Festival Le Giornate del cinema muto (referred to in English as Pordenone Silent Film Festival) is an annual festival of silent film held in October in Pordenone, northern Italy. It is the first, largest and most important international festival dedicated ...

in order to restore the negatives. Around the same time he got in contact with

Aardman Animations Aardman Animations Limited (also known as Aardman Studios, simply Aardman or Aardman Animation and stylised as AARDMAN as of 2022) is a British animation studio based in Bristol, England. It is known for films made using stop-motion and clay ani ...

who also became involved in restoration and digitizing process. The films were subsequently shown at various international film festivals.

Personal life and memory

Alexander Shiryaev was married twice. His first wife was a ballerina Natalia M. Matveeva who also performed at the Mariinsky Theatre. Their only daughter who had also trained as a character dancer drowned in 1912, and his wife died of grief shortly after. In 1924 he married a drama actress R. Pomerantseva, but, according to the ballerina Ninel Yultyeva, the marriage was also unhappy; after Ninel's mother and father — a well-known Soviet writer Daut Yulty and a close friend of Shiryaev's — were arrested in 1937 as " Bashkir bourgeois nationalists", she was raised by Shiryaev who called her his granddaughter. Shiryaev played a small part of choreographer Skripochkin in the 1923 drama film ''

Comedienne A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolish (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audience dir ...

'' directed by

Aleksandr Ivanovsky Aleksandr Viktorovich Ivanovsky (; November 29, 1881 – January 12, 1968) was a screenwriter and film director in Soviet Union. He was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1941, for his work on the 1940 film '' Musical Story''. His 1944 operetta film ''S ...

. In 1938 he published a textbook ''Basics of Character Dance'' together with Alexander Bocharov and Andrei Lopukhov. It was re-released in 2007. In 1941 Shiryaev prepared a book of memoirs ''St. Petersburg Ballet. From Reminiscences of the Mariinsky Theatre Artist''. It was meant to be published by the Union of Theatre Workers, but was postponed. The copy had been kept safe in the

National Library of Russia The National Library of Russia (NLR, russian: Российская национальная библиотека}), located in Saint Petersburg, is the first, and one of three national public libraries in Russia. The NLR is currently ranked amo ...

and was first published in 2004 in the ''Notes by Film Historian'' magazine No. 67. After his death the school theatre under the

Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet The Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet is a school of classical ballet in St Petersburg, Russia. Established in 1738 during the reign of Empress Anna, the academy was known as the Imperial Ballet School until the Soviet era, when, after a brief hi ...

became known as A. V. Shiryaev's Training Theatre. In 2016 the name became official.

Filmography (1905—1909)

Shiryaev's Archive
at the website dedicated to Alexander Shiryaev

Staged comedies

*The Befuddled Film-Maker (35mm positive, 30") *Circus Artists (17.mm negative, 36") *The Clown and the Elephant (17.5mm negative, 1’42"; 17.5mm positive, 1’30") *The Crocodile (17.5mm positive, 38") *Drunkards (17.5mm positive, 1’15") *The Fisherman's Dream (17.5mm positive, 4’20") *An Interrupted Dinner (17.5mm positive, 2’58") *The Lodger and the Spider (17.5mm positive, 1’52") *The Naughty Girl and Granny (17.5mm positive, 2’02") *The Tomboy (17.5mm positive, 2’45") *A Troublesome Couple (17.5mm negative, 2’53") *A Wet Romance (17.5mm positive, 1’27")

Trick films

*Boy in a Sack (17.5mm positive, 52") *Chairs (35mm positive, 20") *The Enchanted Tea Table (17.5mm positive, 42") *Magical Dressing (17.5mm negative, 35") *Pierrot and the Maid (17.5mm positive, 2’02") *Pierrot and the Maid (variant version) (17.5mm negative, 1’52")

Dance films

*Character Dance (35mm positive, 2’20") *Character Dance (35mm positive, 1’50") *Character Dance (Solo) (35mm positive) *Character Dance with Fan (17.5mm negative, 2’01") *Character Dance with Tambourine (17.5mm negative, 1’10") *Cossack Dance (17.5mm negative, 1’09") *"Dance of the Little Corsair" from Le Corsaire (35mm positive, 60") *Folk Courtship Dance 1 (35mm positive, 1’30") *Folk Courtship Dance 2 (17.5mm negative, 44") *“Fool’s Dance” from Petipa's Mlada (35mm positive, 1’02") *“Fool’s Dance” from Petipa's Mlada (17.5mm negative, 1’06")

Puppet animation

*"Baby Dance" from Die Puppenfee (35mm positive and negative, 1’17") *"Hindu Dance" from La Bayadère (35mm positive and negative, 3’) *Mulatto Woman (35mm positive and negative, fragment) *Pierrot-Artists (35mm positive and negative, 5’35") *Pierrot-Artists (35mm positive and negative, 3’10) *Harlequin's Jest (35mm positive and negative, in 5 scenes): Cassandre's Garden (3’11"); A Forest (1’55"); A Cave in the Grotto (48"); Cassandre's House (2’16"); The Marriage of Harlequin and Columbine (5’40") *Two Pierrots Playing Ball (35mm positive and negative, 1’17")

Paper films

*Birds in Flight (2") *Snake (5") *Buffoon's Dance from The Nutcracker (1’30") *Cakewalk (1’04")

Other

Leningrad Choreographic Institute (1920s)

*Character Pas de deux (17.5mm positive, 58") *Coppélia (animated dolls) (17.5mm positive, 53") *La Fille mal gardée (17.5mm positive, 60") *Pas de trois (17.5mm positive, 24") *Les Sylphides (17.5mm positive, 45") *Woman Dancer with Snake (17.5mm positive, 10")

Roles

*1923 — ''

'' — actor (choreographer Skripochkin) *2003 — ''A Belated Premier'' — self (archive footage)

Literature

*''Alexander Shiryaev (1941)''
St. Petersburg Ballet. From Reminiscences of the Mariinsky Theatre Artist
— ''Notes by Film Historian'' No. 67, 2004, pp. 61–101 *''Birgit Beumers, Victor Bocharov, David Robinson (2009)''. Alexander Shiryaev: Master of Movement. — Gemona: Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, 176 pages

References

External links

*
Alexander Shiryaev: Home Movie Genius
by Marie Lascu at the

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

website
Alexander Shiriaev: The Hidden Genius of Ballet and Film
by Wendy Perron,

Dance Magazine ''Dance Magazine'' is an American trade publication for dance published by the Macfadden Communications Group. It was first published in June 1927 as ''The American Dancer''. ''Dance Magazine'' has multiple sister publications, including '' Point ...

A.V. Shiryaev
website dedicated to Alexander Shiryaev
Alexander Shiryaev: Dance to Film
by David Robinson
A Belated Premiere
at kinoglaz.fr {{DEFAULTSORT:Shiryaev, Alexander 1867 births 1941 deaths 19th-century ballet dancers from the Russian Empire 20th-century Russian ballet dancers Russian animated film directors Choreographers of Mariinsky Theatre Honored Artists of the RSFSR Mariinsky Ballet dancers Mass media people from Saint Petersburg Russian animators Russian documentary filmmakers Russian cinematographers Russian choreographers Russian experimental filmmakers Russian male ballet dancers Russian male silent film actors Russian people of Italian descent Soviet animators Soviet male ballet dancers Soviet choreographers Soviet cinematographers Soviet male silent film actors Stop motion animators Vaganova graduates