Valentin Elizariev

Choreographer

the director of the National Academic Bolshoi Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus

People's Artist of the Republic of Belarus (1979)
People's Artist of the USSR (1985)

(born 1947). Graduated from Vaganov's choreographic school and balletmaster's faculty at Rimski-Corsakov's conservatoire (in St. Petersburg). In 1973 he was invited to take up the position of Chief Choreographer of the Belarussian State Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre in Minsk. In 1982 under the grant UNESCO trained in Paris.

Since 1992, he is Artistic Director and Chief Choreographer of the Academic Bolshoi Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus. In 1993, in Moscow he was awarded a special prize for the best choreography at the VII's International Ballet Competition. In 1996, in Paris, in the Palace of UNESCO Valentin Yelizariev is called the best choreographer of the year and laureate of the prize “Benois de la Danse” for the ballet "Passions" (Rogneda).

The ballets he has produced at the Minsk Theatre and other stages affirm humanistic ideals and are directed at examining the problems of a human personality and it's surroundings: "Carmen Suite" by Bizet-Shchedrin, "Creation of the World" by Petrov, "Till Eulenspiegel"& second edition “The legend about Eulenspiegel” by Glebov, "Spartacus" by Khachaturian, "Nutcracker" and “Sleeping Beauty” by Tchaikovski, "Bolero" by Ravel, "Rite of Spring" and “Firebird” by Stravinski, "Romeo and Juliet" by Prokofiev, Cleopatra by V.Kuznetsov, “Esmeralda” by C.Pugni; and the choreographed choral production of Orff's "Carmina Burana". These have been judged by both critics and the ballet public to be events significance of which goes far beyond the confines of the Belarussian Art. In 1995 a new ballet "Passions" (Rogneda) by Mdivany based on the plot of the history of Belarus was staged.

He has a profound knowledge of the classical legacy and is firmly in touch with the contemporary state of the art of ballet. His work reveals his intensive search for the means of a new choreographic expressiveness and leads audiences to high expectations of his new works.

He has collaborated with the State Choreographic Company, the Moscow Classical Ballet, staged performances at the Kirov Theatre in Leningrad, at the Bolshoi Theatre in Warsaw and at the Opera and Ballet Theatre in Ljubljana, Istanbul, Ankara, Tokyo. He was a chairman and a member of International and All Union Ballet Competitions in Moscow (Russia), Kiev (Ukraine), Nagoya (Japan), Varna (Bulgaria), Shanghai (China), Jackson (USA), Vitebsk (Belarus).

For outstanding merits in the development of the choreographic art he was awarded: the title of Laureate of the State Premium of the Republic of Belarus (1996), Honoured Artist of the Republic of Belarus (1976), People's Artist of the Republic of Belarus (1979), People's Artist of the USSR (1985), Professor of the Belarussian Academy of Music (1995), Academician of the International Slavonic Academy (1996), Academician of Petr's Academy of Science & Art (1997). Is awarded the Friendship of the Peoples Order, the Francisc Skorina Order, the Fatherland Order.

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