Asaf Messerer
Asaf Mikhailovich Messerer (Russian: Асаф Михайлович Мессерер, November 19, 1903 - March 7, 1992) was a Lithuanian Jewish and Soviet ballet dancer and ballet teacher. He was born in Vilnius, Lithuania. From 1919 until 1921 he trained as a dancer at the Bolshoi Ballet School under Mikhail Mordkin. He then joined the Bolshoi Theatre, where he became a successful soloist, eventually becoming their chief soloist, a post he retired from in 1954.
Today Messerer is best remembered as a choreographer and an instructor; he was both the choreographer and ballet master for the Bolshoi Theatre. His book Classes in Classical Ballet is a thorough study of proper ballet technique and is still used today.
Messerer was the brother of Sulamith Messerer and the uncle of Maya Plisetskaya. He was married to silent film star, Anel Sudakevich (Russian: Анель Судакевич), son - Boris Messerer (Russian: Борис Мессерер). He won multiple awards from the USSR and from Lithuania.
See also
External links
- Asaf Messerer, soloist (1940): Ribbon Dance, Music by Reinhold Gliere (1875-1956), Choreography by Messerer and Lashchulin, Open Source Movies
- Archive film of Asaf Messerer's Spring Waters in 1979 at Jacob's Pillow
- 1903 births
- 1992 deaths
- People from Vilnius
- People from Vilensky Uyezd
- Plisetski–Messerer family
- Lithuanian Jews
- Soviet male ballet dancers
- Ballet choreographers
- Soviet choreographers
- Ballet teachers
- Soviet educators
- Jewish dancers
- Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples
- People's Artists of the USSR
- People's Artists of the RSFSR
- Stalin Prize winners
- Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery