"Today we can look at the phenomenon of art called "Lavrovsky" from the outside – see and evaluate not only recognized victories, but also the "laboratory" of searching with failures and mistakes that pave the way for future achievements of others."
Boris Pokrovsky
"Today we can look at the phenomenon of art called "Lavrovsky" from the outside – see and evaluate not only recognized victories, but also the "laboratory" of searching with failures and mistakes that pave the way for future achievements of others."
Boris Pokrovsky
The history of the Laboratories began in 1926, when a young soloist of the Kirov (now Mariinsky) Theater, Leonid Lavrovsky, began teaching with students of the Petrograd First Art Studio. It was there that he performed his first independent ballets with young dancers-graduates of the studio.
The performances of the novice teacher-choreographer were a success. However, the joy was overshadowed by the growing conflict with the leadership of the Kirov Theater, which seemed to be jealous of the young artist to his new hobby. The result of strained relations was Lavrovsky's departure from the theater. The career of a ballet dancer, with fourteen years of experience, was over forever.
The path of a choreographer and teacher began. Just a week after leaving the Kirov (Mariinsky) Theater, Leonid Mikhailovich was invited to the Maly Opera House. It was precisely the absence of fear of resolutely saying goodbye to the old and the insane desire to look for the new that defined the creative laboratory of Leonid Lavrovsky. The absolute crown of the choreographer's search was the production of the ballet "Romeo and Juliet", to the music of Sergei Prokofiev. The ballet is still one of the most significant and is present in the repertoire of almost all ballet theaters in Russia and around the world. For the production of "Romeo and Juliet", the choreographer was awarded the highest awards of the USSR, but the most important thing is that Leonid Lavrovsky received an offer to head the main ballet theater of the country, the Bolshoi Theater
Lavrovsky made a huge contribution to the development of Soviet and world art. It was Leonid Mikhailovich who led the famous Bolshoi Theater tour in 1956, in London. Then, at a time of tense relations between the USSR and the West, the Bolshoi's chief choreographer was not afraid to "present to the court of prim Londoners" the interpretation of their own author, William Shakespeare! The success with the Western audience, so many years after the Diaghilev troupe's European tour, was overwhelming. The audience did not let go of the artists with applause for several hours. The most striking thing is that those who wanted to get to the Bolshoi Theater performances even stayed in line for the night, in front of the box office of the Covent Garden Theater. The Russian Ballet was back on top. A fantastic breakthrough and rise of Soviet art took place.
Throughout his career as the head of the Bolshoi Ballet, Leonid Lavrovsky did not stop his "laboratory" work with students-future dancers and choreographers. He was one of the founders of the Ballet Master Faculty of GITIS and the founder of the first ice ballet company in the USSR. Throughout his life, the choreographer Lavrovsky never stopped his creative search; even the strict Sergei Prokofiev allowed his adjustments in his ballet scores. Leonid Mikhailovich Lavrovsky "brought up" a huge number of artists who later became stars of the Soviet ballet.
After leaving the theater, Lavrovsky moved to the position of artistic director of the Moscow Choreographic School, now the Moscow State Academy of Choreography, which today, in this post, is headed by his famous son, Mikhail Leonidovich Lavrovsky.
Mikhail Lavrovsky continues the work started by his father, developing his famous "Laboratories". He works at the Bolshoi Theater as a teacher-tutor, giving daily ballet "classes", teaching new stars of Russian ballet and improving their talents. He combines this work with teaching not only at the Lavrovsky Laboratories School, but also at the Moscow State Academy of Choreography (MGAH), and at the Russian Institute of Theater Arts (GITIS). To this day, the patriarch of the ballet scene, who is due to turn eighty in October 2021, does not miss these regular "training sessions", working out together with the current artists of the Bolshoi Theater and showing the younger generation how to keep in shape by his example.
In 2010, the creative workshops that began their formation back in 1926 received their modern name: "Lavrovsky Laboratories". Then the general producer of "Laboratories"was Mikhail's son, grandson of Leonid Lavrovsky, his full namesake, Leonid Mikhailovich Lavrovsky Jr. The third representative of the dynasty did not follow in the footsteps of his grandfather and father in terms of ballet performance, but continued his staged and pedagogical activities. In addition to working in his native "Laboratories", Leonid Lavrovsky-Garcia (the second name of his mother) is the artistic director of the Podolsk Drama Theater MPK – Drama and a senior teacher of the choreography Department of the Russian Institute of Theater Arts (GITIS). Today, under his leadership, the Lavrovsky Laboratories are developing and functioning.
Over the past ten years, pre-school ballet studios have been opened, a line of professional and sports clothing has been launched, and creative search and production of performances have continued. The result of the Lavrovsky Laboratories ' activity was the foundation of a professional choreographic college, which will hold its first set of students in the summer of 2021!
On June 17, 2021, at a meeting between Mikhail and Leonid Lavrovsky and the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, Olga Lyubimova, the artistic director of "Laboratories "said:" I hope talented guys who can think modernly will come. But first, classical school!"
