Lev Ivanovich Ivanov was born to Thio Adamova and a rich merchant on February 18, 1834, in Moscow. Born as an illegitimate child to the couple, his father helped support Lev by sending him to study ballet. Lev attended the Imperial Theater School in St. Petersburg. He was a natural musician, although his talent was not supported at the scool of ballet.
In 1858, he married Vera Liadova, a dancer, actress, and singer. The marriage was rocky throughout and after a separation, Liadova died. Ivanov remarried, to Varvara Malchugina. He had three children by each wife.
He soon rose to the rank of principal dancer. Ivanov became well known for his skills as a pantomime and lead man in ballets. His performances as Ernest in Petipa's 'Florida', and later as Solor in 'La Bayadere', and Conrad in 'Le Corsaire', established his fame. But, he stopped attending class and was soon replaced by Pavel Gerdt. He became known as a heavy drinker.
In 1890, he was assigned the staging of the Polovtsian Dances in the Borodin opera 'Prince Igor'. His staging was later adapted by Michel Fokine for his 1909 staging.
Petipa made Ivanov chief regisseur of the Maryinsky Theater in 1882. He promoted him to second balletmaster in 1885. Ivanov's impressive memory helped Petipa in staging revivals of ballets. Ivanov approached choreography directly from the music, a technique that would later be adopted by Massine and Balanchine. He favored adding visual variety and excitement in his stagings, rejecting simple symmetry. Though overshadowed by the work of principal balletmaster, Petipa, Ivanov did create some memorable works.
Petipa assigned the staging of Act II of 'Swan Lake' to Ivanov, for the Tchaikovsky Memorial Concert on February 29, 1894. Petipa was also involved in reviving 'Le Reveil de Flore', in which he assigned the staging of Act II to Ivanov. The ballet was a success when the full work was presented, and Ivanov was acknowledged as having made a significant contribution to the staging of the ballet.
Go To Page: 1 2
