Maris Leepea

Star of the Soviet ballet. Honored Artist of the RSFSR (05/26/1964). People's Artist of the Latvian SSR (1968). People's Artist of the RSFSR (1969). People's Artist of the USSR (1976). On the advice of a friend of the father (director of the ballet studio), in order to improve health, the parents sent their son to the ballet studio at the Latvian Opera, later transformed into the Riga Choreographic School. A promising student of the Riga School was transferred to the Moscow School of Choreography (Moscow Art School). The translation took place in 1953: for the last two years, Liepa studied at the Moscow Art School in the class of Nikolai Tarasov, a student of N. Legat. In 1955, Liepa graduated with honors from the Moscow Choreography School, having all the chances to stay in Moscow, but the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia demanded the return of the Moscow Art School graduate to Riga. Liepa received an unexpected invitation from Maya Plesetskaya to take part in a tour to Budapest, playing Siegfried in Swan Lake. In the summer of 1956, Liepa accepted an invitation to join the troupe of the second ballet theater in Moscow - the Moscow KS Musical Theater. Stanislavsky and V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko. In this troupe, he worked for four seasons, immediately gaining a leading position. After touring in Poland in 1960, Liepa received an invitation from L. Bolshoi Theater’s chief choreographer L. Lavrovsky to join the troupe of the country's leading ballet theater. At the beginning of the 1960–1961 season, Basil’s party in Don Quixote made his official debut on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater. From the mid-60s, a period of creative maturity of the artist begins, which coincides with the arrival in the Bolshoi Theater in 1964 of a new chief choreographer, Yu.N. Grigorovich. "Star" became in 1968 in the biography of Liepa. This year the premiere of the new ballet "Spartak" took place, in which the role of the Roman commander Crassus was staged by Yuri Grigorovich especially for Liepa. In the early 1970s, Liepa’s relations with Grigorovich deteriorated, and by that time Grigorovich had become the absolute master of the theater. This led not only to restrictions in the artist's employment in the current repertoire and touring, but also to obstacles in the creation of his new parties. In 1977, Maris Liepa danced his last major game at the Bolshoi Theater - Prince Limon in the children's ballet "Chipollino" by K. Khachaturian (staged by G. Maiorov).