Fedor Vasilevich Lopukhov

Born Oct. 7 (19), 1886, in St. Petersburg; died Jan. 28, 1973, in Leningrad. Soviet ballet dancer, choreographer, and teacher. People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1956).

After graduating from the St. Petersburg Theatrical School, Lopukhov worked at the Mariinskii Theater from 1905 to 1909 and in 1911 and at the Moscow Bol’shoi Theater in 1909-10. From 1922 to 1930 he directed the ballet company of the Leningrad Theater of Opera and Ballet.

Seeking new means of expression, Lopukhov created a number of experimental dance works, including the dance symphony The Majesty of the Universe to Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony (1923); the ballet The Red Storm by Deshevov (1924) on the revolution; Night on Bald Mountain to music by Mussorgsky (1924); and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella (1926) and The Fox (1927). In the ballet Ice Maiden to Grieg’s music (1927), Lopukhov further developed the principles of 19th-century academic ballet; he refurbished the classical dance and introduced acrobatic elements into it and made character dances more closely resemble the ethnic dances. In 1931 he staged the ballet The Bolt by Shostakovich. From 1933 to 1936 he was director of the ballet troupe of the Leningrad Malyi Theater of Opera. Beginning in the 1920’s he staged and revived in different theaters many ballets of the classical era, thereby helping preserve Russian ballet traditions.

In 1937, Lopukhov organized courses for choreographers at the Leningrad Choreographic School, where he worked until 1941. Beginning in 1962 he was artistic director of the choreo-graphic section of the stage directing department of the Leningrad Conservatory.