Igor Moiseyev (1906-2007).

One of the most successful folk dance choreographers of the 20th century, Igor Moiseyev died in November. He lived a long life--over a century--which was probably just as well, as he packed into it three or four careers, any of which would have satisfied a lesser man. He was a likeable, very affable man, but with a prickly concern about the worldwide state of dance and, particularly perhaps, his own position in it.

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He started out as a dancer, and by all accounts, he was a pretty good one. Born in Kiev, he studied privately in Moscow and then at the Bolshoi Ballet School under Alexander Gorsky from 1921 until 1924, joining the Bolshoi Ballet that year, and remaining until 1939. He danced principal roles, such as the Slave in Petipa's Le Corsaire, and from 1930 on he was also a leading Bolshoi choreographer, creating many ballets including Salammbo and the very successful Three Fat Men.

In 1939--following disagreements with the Bolshoi--he left, subsequently his only contact with the company coming in 1958 when he choreographed a disastrous version of Khachaturian's Spartacus. Two decades earlier he had eased his way out when he laid the foundations of his own folk dance company, the Moiseyev Dance Company, in 1937. This won worldwide fame, appearing first in Paris and London in 1955, and in New York in 1958. In 1966 he formed a classical Moiseyev company, Choreographical Concert Ensemble, today called Moscow Classical Company.

The impact of the Moiseyev Dance Company was--and, to an extent, is--enormous. Moiseyev's recipe was not to take one ethnic dance style, as did virtually all of his successors inspired by his general theatrical method. Moiseyev took the folk dance styles of the world for his choreographic palette and created a company still unique in dance.