Leonid Veniaminovich Yakobson (russian: Леонид Вениаминович Якобсон; January 2 (15), 1904 — October 17, 1975), /ref> whose last name is sometimes spelled Jacobson, was a Jewish ballet choreographer from
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. 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
Agrippina Yakovlevna Vaganova (russian: Агриппина Яковлевна Ваганова; 26 June 1879 – 5 November 1951) was a Soviet and Russian ballet teacher who developed the Vaganova method – the technique which derived from the t ...
. Yakobson graduated in 1926 but was unable to find work in the Soviet theaters. After working for some time as a schoolteacher, he was invited to the Leningrad Kirov Theater ( Mariinsky Ballet).
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
Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...
tap dancing
Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely perfo ...
, 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.
Yakobson continued to work in various other cities around the country, with his work attracting more attention. His ballet ''Shurale'' was scheduled to be shown in Moscow on June 22, 1941, but on this day
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
invaded the Soviet Union and the premiere was cancelled. In 1949, Yakobson was invited to the Kirov Ballet Theater (currently Mariinsky Ballet) in Leningrad to resume the staging of ''Shurale''. During rehearsals, members of the Communist Party organization made several attempts to oust Yakobson; however, Pyotr Gusev, the then-head of the troupe, refused to fire him. The premiere of ''Shurale'' took place on May 28, 1950. Not only was it a success, but the ballet was recognized as an outstanding achievement of Soviet choreography. However, as at the time a large-scale anti-Semitic campaign was going on, Yakobson, who was a Jew, was fired from the theater. Nevertheless, ''Shurale'' remained popular with the audience and continued to be shown for a long time. After being fired, Yakobson was taking jobs in minor provincial theaters where he staged various short ballets. He was not allowed to stage grand ballets.
In 1953, after the death of
Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
, the anti-Semitic campaign gradually decayed, and in 1955 Yakobson was again invited to Leningrad to stage a ballet; this time it was ''
Spartacus
Spartacus ( el, Σπάρτακος '; la, Spartacus; c. 103–71 BC) was a Thracian gladiator who, along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprisin ...
'' by
Aram Khachaturian
Aram Ilyich Khachaturian (; rus, Арам Ильич Хачатурян, , ɐˈram ɨˈlʲjitɕ xətɕɪtʊˈrʲan, Ru-Aram Ilyich Khachaturian.ogg; hy, Արամ Խաչատրյան, ''Aram Xačʿatryan''; 1 May 1978) was a Soviet and Armenia ...
. Yakobson was the first choreographer who agreed to work on this ballet. Yakobson's choreography violated all canons of classical ballet. He removed the ballet
pointe shoe
A pointe shoe (, ), also called a ballet toe shoe or simply toe shoe, is a type of shoe worn by ballet dancers when performing pointe work. Pointe shoes were conceived in response to the desire for dancers to appear weightless and sylph-like and ...
s and tutus, and actors were dressed in tunics and sandals like in ancient Rome. He replaced the classic ballet dance for plastic and facial movements. The premiere took place on December 27, 1956 and was received as one of the most remarkable phenomena of the ballet life. However, supporters of classical ballet accused Yakobson in disregarding the rules of the ballet. Soon ''Spartacus'' was removed from the repertoire. In 1968
Yury Grigorovich
Yury Nikolayevich Grigorovich (russian: Ю́рий Никола́евич Григоро́вич; born 2 January 1927 in Leningrad) is a Soviet and Russian dancer and choreographerBolshoi Theatre, but this was a different formulation of classical ballet.
In 1959, Leonid Yakobson created the '' Choreographic Miniatures'' - he brought his little concert dance in one performance. It was filmed and has received a number of international awards, including the ''Golden Nymph'' (1961, Monte Carlo) and ''le diplôme de l'Université de Danse de Paris'' (1961). He created in the Kirov theater a number of other ballets including the '' Bedbug'' (based on the piece by
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (, ; rus, Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский, , vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ məjɪˈkofskʲɪj, Ru-Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.ogg, links=y; – 14 Apr ...
Alexander Blok
Alexander Alexandrovich Blok ( rus, Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Бло́к, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈblok, a=Ru-Alyeksandr Alyeksandrovich Blok.oga; 7 August 1921) was a Russian lyrical poet, writer, publ ...
), 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
Igor Alexandrovich Moiseyev (russian: Игорь Александрович Моисеев; – 2 November 2007) was a Soviet choreographer. Moiseyev was widely acclaimed as the greatest 20th-century choreographer of character dance, a dance ...
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''. This happened in 1969, and Yakobson finally got an opportunity to work quietly. He was able to resume the performances which were not welcome in other theaters, and created a lot of little ballet-miniatures. Among this ballets-miniatures is a "Vestris" for Mikhail Baryshnikov (1969, in memory of
Gaétan Vestris
Gaetano Apolline Baldassarre Vestris (18 April 1729 – 1808), French ballet dancer, was born in Florence and made his debut at the opera in 1749.
Life
Born of an Italian theatrical family, he studied dance with Louis Dupré at the Royal Acad ...
).
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
Pyotr Nilovich Demichev (russian: Пётр Ни́лович Де́мичев; 3 January 191810 August 2010) was a Soviet and Russian politician. He was First Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1986 to 1988 and Minister o ...
. 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
Jean-Georges Noverre (29 April 1727 19 October 1810) was a French dancer and balletmaster, and is generally considered the creator of ''ballet d'action'', a precursor of the narrative ballets of the 19th century. His birthday is now observed as ...
(1727 – 1810) was a French balletmaster and the creator of ''
ballet d'action Ballet d'action is a hybrid genre of expressive and symbolic ballet that emerged during the 18th century. One of its chief aims was to liberate the conveyance of a story via spoken or sung words, relying simply on quality of movement to communicate ...
''). In this book Yakobson presented his theoretical views on the choreography.
See Revival of Yakobson (17 videos) on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...