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About
Vasily Ivanovich Vainonen (1901-1964) was a Russian Soviet ballet dancer and choreographer. Honored artist of the RSFSR (1939). Winner of two Stalin prizes (1947, 1949).
He began his work as a ballet master in the 1920s with the staging of concert numbers. His first major work was the production of Dmitry Shostakovich's ballet the Golden age in 1930. In 1932, at the Leningrad Opera and ballet theatre, he staged Boris Asafiev's the Flame of Paris, a year later created a new edition (1933), and in 1947 moved it to the Bolshoi theatre. Pyotr Tchaikovsky's ballet the Nutcracker was staged in 1934 at the Theatre. Kirov, and in 1938 — at the Bolshoi theatre.
The choreographer's work took place in the formative years of socialist art, when all forms of art were subject to the requirements of socialist realism. With regard to ballet, these requirements required significant innovations. Innovation Vainonen affected in the rapprochement with reality, production of mass dancing, use of folklore, such as Basque dance in the ballet "Flames of Paris". The role of the corps de ballet, representing the people, has increased significantly, he became an active character. The male group dance was a phenomenon entirely new to ballet, they provided the glorification of the play, the performances dominated the bravura, the active principle. The awards received by Vainonen (Stalin prizes) testify to the acceptance of his creative methods by Communist ideologists, but whatever the reasons for the appearance of these innovations, they significantly enriched the art of ballet, expanding the range of its possibilities.
In 1951-1953 he headed the ballet troupe of the Novosibirsk Opera and ballet theatre.