Alexander Alexeyevich Gorsky
Alexander Gorsky, a Russian ballet choreographer and a contemporary of Marius Petipa, is known for restaging Petipa's classical ballets such as Swan Lake, Don Quixote, and The Nutcracker. Gorsky "sought greater naturalism, realism, and characterization" in ballet. He valued acting skills over bravura technique. His interpretations of ballets were often controversial and he often used artists outside the dance world to create sets and costumes. The victim of deteriorating mental health in his later life, he died in a mental hospital.
Alexander Gorsky in 1905
Marius Ivanovich Petipa, born Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa, was a French and Russian ballet dancer, pedagogue and choreographer. Petipa is one of the most influential ballet masters and choreographers in ballet history.
Maestro Marius Ivanovich Petipa, premier maître de ballet of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres. St. Petersburg, 1887.
Portrait of Marius Petipa around the time of his arrival in Russia. St. Petersburg, c. 1855.
The stage of the Mariinsky Theatre with cast in act I of Petipa's final revival of The Pharaoh's Daughter, St. Petersburg, 1898. In the center is Mathilde Kschessinskaya as the Princess Aspicia (right), and Anna Johannson as the slave Ramzé (left).
The stage of the Mariinsky Theatre with the cast of act I/scene 1 of the original production of Petipa's Raymonda. In the center is Pierina Legnani, creator of the title role. On the right of the stage is (right to left) Claudia Kulichevskaya as Clémence, Olga Preobrajenska Henriette, Pavel Gerdt as Abderakhman, and Nikolai Legat as Béranger. St. Petersburg, 1898.
