Leonid Zhdanov (russian: Леонид Тимофеевич Жданов; 1927–2009) was a Russian dancer and photographer. Younger brother of a dancer Yury Zhdanov.

Biography

Zhdanov was born on June 23, 1927 in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. He was a pupil of Nikolai Tarasov at the Moscow Ballet School. Like his elder brother Yury he joined 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 ...

's ballet company after the graduation. He participated in double roles with such

principal dancer A principal dancer (often shortened to principal) is a dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company. A principal may be male or female. The position is similar to that of '' soloist''; however, p ...

s as

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 ...

Raisa Struchkova Raisa Stepanovna Struchkova (russian: Раиса Степановна Стручкова) (5 October 19252 May 2005) was a Russian dancer and People's Artist of the USSR. Biography Struchkova was born on 5 October 1925 in Moscow to a factory wo ...

Maya Plisetskaya Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya (russian: link=no, Майя Михайловна Плисецкая; 20 November 1925 – 2 May 2015) was a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet director, and actress. In post-Soviet times, she he ...

Alicia Alonso Alicia Alonso (born Alicia Ernestina de la Caridad del Cobre Martínez del Hoyo; 21 December 1920 – 17 October 2019) was a Cuban prima ballerina assoluta and choreographer whose company became the Ballet Nacional de Cuba in 1955. She is best ...

, and many others. Later on, he came back to the Moscow Ballet School as a teacher of male classical dance and

pas de deux In ballet, a pas de deux (French language, French, literally "step of two") is a dance duet in which two dancers, typically a male and a female, perform ballet steps together. The pas de deux is characteristic of classical ballet and can be fo ...

. He brought up such dancers as Dmitry Gudanov and Andrei Fedotov. One of his last students was Vladislav Lantratov. He also was a painter and a dance photographer. Inspired by

Henri Cartier-Bresson Henri Cartier-Bresson (; 22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004) was a French humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street photography, and viewed photography as cap ...

, a French photographer he kept a collection of 400,000 negatives of his ballet photos. Few books on ballet, included an album about art of

and two albums about Moscow Ballet School based on his photographs were published. He died on May 14, 2009.

References

1927 births 2009 deaths Russian male ballet dancers Dancers from Moscow Bolshoi Ballet principal dancers Moscow State Academy of Choreography people Ballet photographers Soviet photographers Photographers from Moscow Ballet masters 20th-century Russian ballet dancers {{Russia-bio-stub