Leonid Yakobson

Leonid Veniaminovich Yakobson (Russian: Леонид Вениаминович Якобсон; January 2 (15), 1904  — October 17, 1975), whose last name is sometimes spelled Jacobson, was a ballet choreographer from Russia.

Yakobson was born in St. Petersburg. He staged his first ballets when he was still a student at the Leningrad Choreographic School. His first works were in sharp contrast to the views of the established classical ballet school and he immediately found himself in conflict with the Soviet party and ballet officials and experts, in particular with Agrippina Vaganova. Yakobson graduated in 1926 but was unable to find work in the Soviet theaters. After working for some time as a schoolteacher, he was invited to the Leningrad Kirov Theater (Mariinsky Ballet).

His first work was choreographing the second act of The Golden Age, a 1930 ballet by Dmitri Shostakovich. The act required athleticism from the dancers; overall, the ballet targeted young people. The ballet itself was heavily politicized: its plot revolved around Soviet football players going to a bourgeois country where they were baited by police, fascists, and capitalists. The plot required the inclusion of such dances as tango, foxtrot, and tap dancing, which at the time were forbidden in the Soviet Union. The ballet was shown a total of eighteen times and then was banned. In 1931, Agrippina Vaganova became the head of the Ballet Theater and denied Yakobson any further choreographic work.

Yakobson continued to work in various other cities around the country, with his work attracting more attention. His ballet Shurale was scheduled to be shown in Moscow on June 22, 1941, but on this day Germany invaded the Soviet Union and the premiere was cancelled. In 1949, Yakobson was invited to the Kirov Ballet Theater (currently Mariinsky Ballet) in Leningrad to resume the staging of Shurale. During rehearsals, members of the Communist Party organization made several attempts to oust Yakobson; however, Pyotr Gusev, the then-head of the troupe, refused to fire him. The premiere of Shurale took place on May 28, 1950. Not only was it a success, but the ballet was recognized as an outstanding achievement of Soviet choreography. However, as at the time a large-scale anti-Semitic campaign was going on, Yakobson, who was a Jew, was fired from the theater. Nevertheless, Shurale remained popular with the audience and continued to be shown for a long time. After being fired, Yakobson was taking jobs in minor provincial theaters where he staged various short ballets. He was not allowed to stage grand ballets.

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