Throwback Thursday and Asaf Messerer
Asaf Messerer was born in Lithuania, and began studying
ballet when he was a teenager. He took private classes at Mikhail Mordkin’s school and then began performing with the
ballet company of the Theater of Working Youth.
Soon, he entered the Bolshoi Ballet School, becoming part of the senior
class.
He took technical skills to a new level, as well as creating
“a stir by substituting naturalistic acting for conventional mime as Siegfried
in Swan Lake” according to the New
York Times. He began choreographing for the Bolshoi’s 1962 tour, and is
probably best known for creating “Spring Waters”, a short, exciting pas de deux
that helped define Russian bravura dancing.
In 1923 he began teaching at the Bolshoi school and soon
became known as one of Russia’s greatest teachers. His system of teaching is
documented in his book “Classes in Classical Dance” which was published in the
U.S. in 1975.
Asaf Messerer taught up until his death from bronchitis in
1992. He was 88 years old.
From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:
Dance History Factoid #69:
“Asaf Messerer was a
great Russian dancer, teacher and choreographer.”
Link of the Day:
Quote
of the Day:
“The
mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher
demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”
― William Arthur Ward
― William Arthur Ward
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