In honour of Boris Bregvadze

On 4 March the performance of Don Quixote will be dedicated to Professor Boris Bregvadze, People’s Artist of the RSFSR.

Of Boris Bregvadze it was written that it was enough to see this dancer on the stage just once in order to remember and admire him. Audiences idolised him. When asked about the secret of his success, the dancer replied that “You have to dance with your soul. That’s what’s most important – with the soul.” And there is no cunning in that answer. When he came on the stage Bregvadze didn’t just become his character – he came alive in dance. “He always looks his partner in the eyes, and there is always truth in his eyes,” recalled Tatiana Vecheslova, with whom Boris Bregvadze performed his first roles at the Kirov Theatre. “His instantaneous reaction was so sincere that it could not but be conveyed to the audience. He is inventive and almost never repeats himself, and his inner conviction justifies any stage situation.” This inner conviction was invariably confirmed through the brilliance of his dance – his excellent training, virtuoso technique and elegance.

Boris Bregvadze took his first steps in the profession in his hometown of Saratov, initially in a dance class and later at theatre school. And even the war – which saw the closure of the school – did not interrupt his plans and did not change his conscious choice of profession; having studied at an aviation technical school, Bregvadze nevertheless returned to flight on the stage. His first ballet characters were in performances at the Saratov Opera and Ballet Theatre. Subsequently, on entering the Leningrad School of Dance in the class of Boris Shavrov, in 1947 Bregvadze became a dancer at the Kirov Theatre.

He burst onto the stage with the flight of the Wind in the ballet A Springtime Tale while still a student. As was the case with the lead role of Andrei in the Leningrad ballet Tatiana, which he also danced before graduating. Bregvadze enchanted audiences with his charm in Don Quixote: his leaps, batteries and pirouettes as Basilio were not a demonstration of technique; his virtuosity was an expression of his character’s energy and joie-de-vivre. In the incredibly demanding pas de deux of Diana and Actaeon by Vaganova, Bregvadze naturally combined the expression of powerful dance with the refined beauty of his poses. As Solor in La Bayadère he combined the musicality of pantomime with the eloquence of his impetuous leaps. His dramatic expressiveness was to ensure success in The Bronze Horseman, Masquerade and Othello. There were also the roles of Frondoso in Laurencia, Ferkhad in The Legend of Love, Spartacus in the eponymous ballet by Yakobson, Ali-Batyr in Shurale, the Prince in Cinderella, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet and Lenny in The Path of Thunder...

Bregvadze dazzled at the Kirov Theatre for over twenty years, generously sharing with the audience and his partners the light of his talent and his love of dance, and before he had ended his performing career he had already begun to teach in school – sharing his skill with dancers of the future, lighting the fire of love of the profession in young hearts. In class, Boris Bregvadze taught not just the profession; the magic of his teaching skill lay in his ability to inspire his pupils with the sparkle of his dance, producing not just performers but true artistes. When his students took almost every prize at a competition, Bregvadze was named the indisputable winner of professional competitions. But Bregvadze-the-teacher’s main accomplishment was that at many theatres throughout the world his students have danced and continue to dance, among them Andrei Bosov, Yuri Vasilkov, Nikolai Sergeyev, Vladimir Shishov, Anton Ploom, Mikhail Lobukhin, Grigory Popov, Pavel Moskvito, Konstantin Zverev, Filipp Stepin and Sergei Strelkov.

Bregvadze also enjoyed sharing his experience with those who did not intend to enter the professional ballet world – in 1964 he created, managed and for many years directed the faculty of choreography at the Leningrad Institute of Culture. Just as Boris Bregvadze, through his example of submitting to the nature of dance and always dance with the soul, had inspired audiences and later his students.

Olga Makarova