Boris Fenster (17 April 1916 – 29 December 1960) was a Soviet dancer, choreographer and

ballet master A ballet master (also balletmaster, ballet mistress, ''premier maître de ballet'' or ''premier maître de ballet en chef'') is an employee of a ballet company who is responsible for the level of competence of the dancers in their company. In mo ...

.''Oxford Dictionary of Dance'' (2004)

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

Fenster was born in

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. He attended the Leningrad Ballet School and graduated in 1936. Fenster then joined the Maly Theatre Ballet and served as head choreographer from 1945-53. After leaving that post he joined the

Kirov Ballet The Mariinsky Ballet () is the resident classical ballet company of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russian Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet is one of the world's ...

, becoming the

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

in 1956.''Nureyev, His Life'' (1998) Diane Solway Fenster remained at the Kirov until his death. He died at the premiere of his ballet ''Maskerade''.

References

1916 births 1960 deaths Mariinsky Ballet dancers Soviet male ballet dancers Ballet choreographers Ballet masters Burials at Serafimovskoe Cemetery {{Ballet-bio-stub

See also

References