Life in dance. Igor Moiseev's ballet: world recognition Igor Moiseev Ensemble Bolshoi Theater

The State Academic Folk Dance Ensemble named after Igor Moiseev is the first and only professional choreographic group in the world engaged in artistic interpretation and promotion of dance folklore of the peoples of the world.

The ensemble was organized on February 10, 1937, and since then the main artistic principles of its development have been continuity and creative interaction of traditions and innovation. The main task, which was first set before the artists by the founder of the ensemble, Igor Moiseev (1906-2007), is the creative processing of folklore samples common at that time in the USSR. To this end, the artists of the ensemble went on folklore expeditions around the country, where they searched for and recorded disappearing dances, songs, rituals. As a result, the first programs of the ensemble appeared: "Dances of the Peoples of the USSR" (1937-1938), "Dances of the Baltic Peoples" (1939). In the repertoire of the ensemble, folklore samples have received a new stage life and have been preserved for several generations of viewers around the world. For this purpose, Igor Moiseev used all the means of stage culture: all types and types of dances, symphonic music, dramaturgy, scenography, acting skills.

An important step was the development and creative interpretation of European folklore. The program "Dances of the Slavic Peoples" (1945) was created in unique conditions: not being able to travel abroad, Igor Moiseev recreated living examples of dance creativity, consulting with musicians, folklorists, historians, and musicologists. On tour in 1946 in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, the audience was amazed at the accuracy of the productions, the true artistic meaning of the ensemble's stage works. Since that time and until now, the ensemble has been a school and a creative laboratory for choreographers from different countries, and its repertoire serves as a kind of choreographic encyclopedia of the dance culture of the peoples of the world. With the direct participation of well-known experts in folklore choreographers Miklos Rabai (Hungary), Lyubusha Ginkova (Czechoslovakia), Ahn Song-hi (Korea), whom Igor Moiseev attracted to work, the program "Peace and Friendship" (1953) was created, which for the first time collected samples of European and Asian dance folklore of eleven countries.

Based on the model of the Igor Moiseev Folk Dance Ensemble, choreographic groups were created in all the republics of the USSR (now the CIS countries), as well as in many European countries.

The Folk Dance Ensemble is the first Soviet group to go on tour during the Iron Curtain period. In 1955, the artists of the ensemble performed for the first time in Paris and London. The triumph of the Soviet dance troupe served as the first step towards international detente. In 1958, the Igor Moiseev Ensemble was also the first of the domestic ensembles to perform in the United States. The successful tour, the American press admitted, melted the ice of mistrust towards the USSR and became the basis for establishing new, constructive relations between our countries.

Another important merit of the Folk Dance Ensemble is the creation of the unique Moiseev School of Dance (1943), the only one in the world. Its distinguishing features are high professionalism, virtuoso technical equipment, and the ability to convey the improvisational nature of folk performance. Actor-dancers, trained by Igor Moiseev, are well-educated, versatile artists who are fluent in all types of dance, able to embody the national character in an artistic image. The dancer of the Moiseev school is the best recommendation anywhere in the world, in a choreographic group of any direction. The artists of the ensemble were awarded the titles of Honored and People's Artists of the USSR and Russia.

A vivid expression of the creative principles of educating actors-dancers is the program "The Road to Dance" ("Class Concert"), which clearly shows the creative path of the team from mastering individual elements to creating full-scale stage paintings. For the program "The Road to Dance" (1965), the group was the first of the folk dance ensembles to be awarded the title of "Academic", and Igor Moiseev - the Lenin Prize.

For their concert activity, which has been going on for more than 70 years, the team was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples. The ensemble has rightly been and remains the hallmark of our country abroad.

On different continents, viewers of different generations fell in love with the “crown” numbers of the Ensemble, which became the “calling cards” of the group: the legendary “Partisans”, the naval suite “Yablochko”, the old urban Quadrille, the Moldavian Jock, the Ukrainian Gopak, the Russian dance “Summer”, the incendiary Tarantella. The Ensemble gained great success with bright one-act performances staged by Igor Moiseev with the involvement of the means and techniques of world folk and theatrical culture - "Vesnyanki", "Tsam", "Sanchakou", "Polovtsian Dances" to the music of A. Borodin, "At the Skating Rink" on music by I. Strauss, "Night on Bald Mountain" to music by M. Mussorgsky, "Spanish Ballad" to music by Pablo di Luna, "An Evening in a Tavern" to music by Argentinean composers, etc.

And now, after the death of the permanent leader of the ensemble, Igor Moiseev, the choreographic level of the group still serves as an unsurpassed standard, and the title of "Moiseev" is synonymous with high professionalism.

On February 10, 1937, the State Academic Folk Dance Ensemble named after Igor Moiseev- a team that still has no analogues in the world. Moiseev created his own technique and a unique method for the creative interpretation of folklore: his productions combine all types of dance, dramaturgy, symphonic music and acting skills. Therefore, even now, after so many years, the ensemble continues to tour - and everywhere gathers full houses. AiF.ru offers to recall some interesting facts from its history.

People's Artist of the USSR, artistic director of the State Academic Folk Dance Ensemble of the USSR Igor Moiseev, 1966. Photo: RIA Novosti / Umnov

Preparing new performances, members of the team went on folklore expeditions

When Igor Moiseev created his ensemble in the late 1930s, the artists faced an important task: the dancers had to display on stage the entire diversity of the USSR folklore. The troupe traveled throughout the Union, studied the disappearing songs, dances and rituals, and then creatively interpreted them and included them in their program.

In the Moiseev Ensemble, all dancers are equal

One of the distinguishing features of the group is the absence of soloists and corps de ballet in it. One artist can play both leading and secondary roles.

Ukrainian dance performed by folk dance ensemble led by Igor Moiseev. Photo: RIA Novosti / Vladimir Vyatkin

Not being able to travel abroad, Igor Moiseev authentically recreated a number of Eastern European dances

In the 1940s, the artistic director of the ensemble staged the program "Dances of the Slavic Peoples" - it included Bulgarian, Hungarian, Romanian and other dances. Since traveling abroad was closed in those years, Moiseev consulted with historians, folklorists and musicologists during his work. And when the troupe finally went on tour in 1946, the audience from Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and other countries were amazed by the accuracy of the productions.

Egyptian dance performed by soloists of the Igor Moiseev Folk Dance Ensemble. Performance at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall of the Moscow State Academic Philharmonic. year 2009. Photo: RIA Novosti / Vladimir Vyatkin

The Moiseev Ensemble was the first Soviet ensemble to go on tour to France, Great Britain and the USA.

In 1955, the band "cut through" the iron curtain, going on tour to Paris and London. And in 1958, the artists visited the United States - also the first of the Soviet dancers.

During the war, the money earned by the ensemble was used to build the GANT USSR tank.

In the 1940s, Moiseev's team toured Siberia, the Far East, Transbaikalia, and Mongolia. For their concerts, the ensemble earned about one and a half million rubles - with this money the tank "GANT USSR" ("State Folk Dance Ensemble of the USSR") was built for the Soviet army.

Igor Moiseev at the rehearsal. 1984 Photo: RIA Novosti / V. Malyshev

Igor Moiseev led the ensemble for 70 years

Choreographer Moiseev led the troupe for 70 years - almost until his death. When the artist passed away at the age of 101, his place in the team was taken by Elena Shcherbakova. She joined the ensemble as a 16-year-old girl, danced in the troupe for more than twenty years, and after that she worked as a teacher in the studio school at the GAANT.

Daughter of the choreographer, teacher Olga Moiseeva, and director of the Igor Moiseev Folk Dance Ensemble Elena Shcherbakova, 2013. Photo: RIA Novosti / Vladimir Vyatkin

Moiseev's team performed at La Scala and Opera Garnier

GAANT is the only professional folk dance group that has performed on the stage of Milan's La Scala theater and the Parisian Opera Garnier (aka the Grand Opera).

By the number of performances, the folk dance ensemble got into the Russian Guinness Book of Records

The team traveled on tour in more than 60 countries and got into the Russian Book of Records.

Artists of the Igor Moiseev Folk Dance Ensemble perform Moldovan dances at the opening of the 77th season at the P. I. Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. year 2013. Photo: RIA Novosti / Vladimir Vyatkin

All concerts of the ensemble are accompanied by a small symphony orchestra

Initially, the group had enough folk and national instruments, but in the late 1940s, due to the expansion of the repertoire, a small symphony orchestra was created with the ensemble. Now all the troupe's concerts are accompanied by an orchestra of 35 people, and sometimes the musicians take part in the performance on stage.

The group's repertoire consists of about three hundred numbers.

For 77 years, Igor Moiseev has staged about 300 numbers: choreographic miniatures, dance scenes, one-act ballets, and various suites. Some of them were created back in the pre-war years, but are still sold out.

background

Formation of Moiseev

In 1920, his father brought 14-year-old Igor Moiseev to the ballet studio of Vera Masolova, a former ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater. According to the father, dancing should have a positive effect on the formation of the personality of his son, as well as give him the correct posture and demeanor. Three months later, Vera Masolova, having come with Igor Moiseev to the Choreographic College of the Bolshoi Theatre, told the director that Moiseev should learn from them. After the entrance exam, he was enrolled in courses.

At the age of 18, after graduating from a technical school, Igor Moiseev became a dancer at the Bolshoi Theater, and at 24, a choreographer and staged several concerts. However, after the change of leadership of the Bolshoi Theater, the situation changed. The new director, Elena Malinovskaya, was outraged by the fact that a 24-year-old dancer became a choreographer: they usually became after leaving the stage and at a more mature age. Malinovskaya did not remove Moiseev from his post, but she forbade him to put on new dances. Under the new chief choreographer Rostislav Zakharov, the situation in the theater became more complicated: Zakharov saw a serious competitor in Moiseev, which led to a long conflict.

Story

Creating an Ensemble

For the sake of working in the ensemble, Igor Moiseev left the academic stage and the position of soloist and choreographer of the Bolshoi Theater. The most talented participants of the festival were invited to the team. The main task of the ensemble, Igor Moiseev, considered the creative processing and popularization of the dance folklore of the peoples of the USSR, to study which the artists went on expeditions and recorded folk dances, songs and rituals throughout the country.

In order to recreate accurate examples of dance creativity, the ensemble held consultations with musicians, folklorists, historians and musicologists. To maximize the disclosure and expression of the expression of dance in the productions, classical music, acting, dramaturgy and scenography were widely used. Igor Moiseev maintained a high level of professionalism of all dancers and did not single out soloists in the group: each participant in the production could play both main and secondary roles.

February 10, 1937 is considered the founding date of the theater: on this day, the first rehearsal of the group took place. The first concert was held at the Hermitage Theater in Moscow on August 29 of the same year. Initially, the group consisted of a small orchestra of folk instruments and thirty dancers.

Since 1938, the ensemble began to perform regularly at banquets in the Kremlin. After that, Igor Moiseev was demanded 18 times to join the CPSU: it was believed that non-party people should not manage collectives. In 1940, during the next banquet, Joseph Stalin took an interest in the affairs of the team. Igor Moiseev complained about the lack of a suitable place for rehearsals, which had to be carried out even on the landings. The next day after the conversation, the team was offered any building in the capital to choose from. Igor Moiseev chose a dilapidated building that previously housed the Vsevolod Meyerhold State Theatre. Three months later the building was renovated and the group's rehearsal base received a permanent building.

Military appearances

The folk dance school was opened in 1943 after the ensemble returned to the capital. Its graduates got jobs both in the ensemble itself and in other dance groups.

post-war period

The band's popularity peaked in the post-war years. GANT was the hallmark of the USSR and became the first ensemble in the country that went on tour in more than 60 countries. For example, in 1945 the team visited Finland, in 1954 - China, in 1955 - France and Great Britain, in 1956 - Lebanon, Egypt and Syria. In 1958, the ensemble visited the USA, in 1963 - in the countries of South America, and in 1974 - in India. Performances contributed to the establishment of constructive interstate relations and even influenced fashion: after a performance in France in 1953, French women began to wear Cossack boots. Each year it took up to nine months to tour the country and abroad.

In 1965, for the "Road to Dance" program, the team received the title of academic ensemble, and in 1987 was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples. In 1989, after a tour in Israel, diplomatic relations were established between the USSR and Israel.

Modernity

Igor Moiseev worked with the group until his death and even while in the hospital he gave recommendations to the dancers after watching videos of the ensemble's rehearsals. He died on November 2, 2007, two months before the age of 102. For more than 70 years of work, Igor Moiseev has staged about 300 works. According to him, "there was one happy circumstance in the life of the ensemble: the team quickly gained recognition and for decades did not know failures." After the death of the artistic director, the ensemble was named after him.

Since 2011, the position of artistic director-director of the ensemble has been occupied by Elena Shcherbakova. As of 2012, the seventh generation of Moiseyevites was already working in the team: 90 ballet dancers and an orchestra of 32 musicians. The ensemble's repertoire exceeded 300 original numbers. In 2015, the ensemble received the status of a particularly valuable object of cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia. For the 80th anniversary of the ensemble, the team formed a jubilee program, which consisted of works staged by Igor Moiseev. Also, an exhibition was opened for the anniversary, where costumes, unpublished manuscripts, concert programs, photographs of the band members, an inventory of the ensemble's gifts for 1939-1948 and souvenir matchboxes depicting artists were presented.

In 2018, the artistic director of the ensemble, Elena Shcherbakova, was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree.

Repertoire

Igor Moiseev staged folk dances according to the canons of the 19th century and honed the classical technique of the artists. Since Soviet and modern authors did not have such a culture, it was extremely difficult for the ensemble to update the repertoire after the death of the founder of the ensemble. However, new numbers constantly appear in the ensemble's repertoire. For example, the Adyghe dance of Aslan Khadzhaev “Tlyapatet”, the Korean “Trio” - Kim Jong Il sent national costumes and a choreographer to Moscow to learn the dance. The once-closed number of 1961 "Rock and Roll", which at one time caused a storm among the audience and set off folk dances, was also restored.

The best dances of the ensemble are “Sirtaki”, “Apple”, “Hungarian dance”, “Tatarochka”, “Kalmyk dance”, “Finnish polka”, dance of Argentine shepherds “Gaucho”, “Night on Bald Mountain”, “Russian dance”.

Cycles

Cycles staged by Igor Moiseev:

• The cycle “Pictures of the Past”: “Podmoskovskaya Lyrics” (1938), “Polka Beauty with Figures and Compliments” (1939), “Sunday” (1942), “Trepak” (1943), “Suite of Old Russian Dances” (1943) , "City factory square dance" (1945), "Around the courtyards" (1948), "Buffoon games" (1966), "Jewish suite" Family joys "" (1994).
• The cycle "Soviet Pictures": "Red Army Dance" (1937), "Kolkhoznaya Street" (1940), "Naval Suite "A Day on the Ship"" (1942), "Football" (1948), "Two May Days" (1948), "Partisans" (1950), "Conscripts" (1959), "On the skating rink" (1959), "Holiday of Labor" (1976).

Programs

Under the guidance of Igor Moiseev, the following programs were prepared.

• "Dances of the peoples of the USSR" (1937-1938)
• "Dances of the Baltic peoples" (1939)
• "Dances of the Slavic peoples" (1945)
• "Peace and Friendship" (1953)
• Class-concert "Road to dance" (1965). The program included the numbers "Machine", "Middle", "Prokhodki", "Pereplyas", "Ukrainian Dance", "Gopak-Kolo", "Polka".
• "Away and at home" (1983)
• "Dances of the peoples of the world"

Individual performances:

• Winter Fantasy "Snowstorm" (1959)
• One-act ballet "Polovtsian Dances" (1971), including the numbers: "Entering the Khan", "Dance of the Captives", "Dance of the Boys", "Dance of the Archers", "Departure of the Riders", "General Dance", "Dance of the Shepherds", "Militant dance", "final".
• Choreographic picture "At the skating rink" (1980), including numbers: "Waltz of skaters", "Girl and boy", "Competitions of spinners", "Parade", "Gallop and final".
• One-act ballet "Night on Bald Mountain" (1983), including the numbers "Fair" and "Night on Bald Mountain".
• One-act ballet "Spanish Ballad" (1983)
• One-act ballet "An Evening in a Tavern" (1986)
• Jewish Suite "Family Joys" (1994)

• Azerbaijani dances: “Vozgaly” (1937), “Tarakyama” (1938), “Date” (1939, staged by T.S. Izrailov), “Gazakhi” (1939, staged by T.S. Izrailov), “Desmoly” (1941) , staged by I. I. Arbatov), ​​"Shepherds" (1959)
• Argentinean dances: tango "In the tavern Rodriguez Peña" (1963-1965), Dance of the shepherds "Gaucho" (1967), "Malambo" (1986)
• Armenian dance "Mirchai" (1938)
• Armenian-Kurdish dance suite (1937): “Mainuki”, “Kertsy”, “Kryngi”, “Pailyancho”, “Sheikhana”, “Yana-Yana”, “Lorka”, “Vahrami”, “Khasa-Barasi”, “ Naro", "Avue-Bashi"
• Bashkir dance "Seven Beauties" (1953)
• Belarusian dances: Kryzhachok (1937), Lyavonikha (1937), Bulba (1940), Yurochka (1940), Polka Yanka (1945), Polka Mama (1948)
• Bulgarian dances: "Quick Troika" (1953), "Bulgarian Dance" (1965)
• Buryat Dances: The Buryat-Mongolian Tale "Tsam" (1950)
• Venezuelan dance "Joropa" (1983)
• Hungarian dances: "Czardas", "Farewell", "Girl's dance with bottles on her head" (1951-1952), "Dance with spurs", "Pontozoo" (1953, staged by M. Rabai)
• Vietnamese Dance: "Dance with Bamboo" (1983)
• German Dance: "German Waltz" (1953)
• Greek dances: suite of Greek dances "Sirtaki" ("Sirtaki", "Dance of the Girls", "General Round Dance", "Male Dance in Fours", "Common Final Dance") (1991)
• Georgian dance: "Shalakho" (1940-1941)
• Georgian-Adjarian dances: "Kartuli" (1937), "Khorumi" (1937)
• Hutsul dances: "Arkan" (1948), "Dance of a girl and two guys"
• Egyptian dance (1997)
• Irish dance "Youth"
• Spanish dances: "Spanish Ballad" (1983), "Aragonese Jota" (1963-1965)
• Italian dance "Sicilian tarantella La karetta"
• Kazakh dance "Kok-par"
• Kalmyk dance "Chichirdyk", "Ishkymdyk"
• Chinese Dances: Drum Dance, Ribbon Dance, San Cha Kou
• Kyrgyz dances: "Yurt", "Kyz Kumai", "Dance of Kyrgyz girls"
• Korean dance
• Latvian dances
• Lithuanian dances
• Macedonian women's dance, "Dzyurdevka", "Selyanchitsa"
• Mari dance
• Mexican Suite
• Moldovan dances: “Zhok ulmare. Suite”, “Hora”, “Chiochirlia”, “Jock”, “Moldavenyaska”, “Koasa”, “La spalat”, “Sfredelos”, “Moldavanochka”, “Cunning Makanu. Suite”, “Dance of the Guys”, “Dance of the Girls”, “Declaration of Love”, “Common Exit”, “Syrba”, “Yula”
• Mongolian dances: "Mongolian riders", "Mongolian figurine", "Dance of Mongolian wrestlers"
• Nanai dances: "Fencing with sticks", "Fight of two kids"
• Ossetian dance "Simp"
• Polish dances: Polonaise, Troyak, Oberek, Krakowiak, Mazurka, Polka Labyrinth
• Romanian dances: "Briul", "Mushamaua", "Oash dance"
• Russian dances: “Polyanka”, “Seasons. Suite of two dances”, “Monogram”, “Six. Ural dance", "Cocky ditties", "Russian dance", "Snowstorm"
• Slovak dance
• Tajik dances: "Dance of girls", "Male martial dance with a dagger", "Dance with doira"
• Dance of the Kazan Tatars
• Dance of the Crimean Tatars "Chernomorochka"
• USA Dance: "Square Dance", "Back to the Monkey (Rock and Roll)"
• Torgut dance
• Uzbek dances: "Buttermilk", "Dance with a dish", "Uighur dance "Safaili""
• Ukrainian dances: “Vesnyanki. Suite”, “Farewell”, “Fortune-telling”, “Big Dance”, “Heel”, “Exit of the Guys”, “Return”, “Meeting and Greatness”, “Gopak”
• Finnish dance "Comic Polka"
• gypsy dance
• Czech dance "Czech polka"
• Chuvash dance
• Estonian dances: “Estonian polka through the leg”, “Hiu-waltz. Estonian suite of three dances»
• Yugoslav dances: "Serbian", "Kukuneshti"
• Yakut dance "Good hunter"

Notes

1. Igor Moiseev State Academic Folk Dance Ensemble (indefinite) (unavailable link). Culture.RF (2013). Retrieved June 6, 2018. Archived from the original on July 22, 2018.
2. , With. 357-361.
3. Igor Moiseev passed away (indefinite) . TV channel "Russia - Culture" (November 2, 2007). Retrieved June 6, 2018.
4. Igor Shevelev. dancing age (indefinite) . Russian newspaper (January 20, 2006). Retrieved June 6, 2018.
5. Oksana Polyakova. The art of dance is above politics (indefinite) . Evening Moscow (November 29, 2014). Retrieved June 6, 2018.
6. Igor Moiseev: “You need to perfectly control your body so that it becomes obedient to every thought” (indefinite) . OrheusMusic.Ru (2013). Retrieved June 6, 2018.
7. Evgenia Korobkova. Ten great dances of Igor Moiseev (indefinite) . Izvestia (January 11, 2016). Retrieved June 6, 2018.

The world's first professional folk dance ensemble together with Natalia Letnikova.

1. "Legs later, first carry the soul"- said Igor Moiseev at rehearsals. The troupe of the world's first folk dance ensemble traveled all over the Soviet Union. Disappearing dances and rituals were transferred to the stage directly from folklore expeditions.

2. How people dance in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania... The program "Dances of the Slavic Peoples", which still lives on the stage, is already 70 years old. Igor Moiseev put it without going abroad. And on the very first tour, specialists were struck by the accuracy of the hit.

3. The Tchaikovsky Concert Hall is the native stage of the Moiseevites. The ensemble, already known and even performing at receptions in the Kremlin, had nowhere to rehearse. Stalin personally offered to choose the building. Igor Moiseev preferred the former Meyerhold Theater on Tverskaya.

4. "GANT USSR" - State Folk Dance Ensemble ... and a tank. During the Great Patriotic War, the team toured Siberia, Transbaikalia, the Far East. The artists earned one and a half million rubles and gave the money to build a tank for the Soviet army.

5. Creative breakthrough of the iron curtain. 60 years ago, the Moiseev Ensemble became the first Soviet ensemble to go on tour in a capitalist country. France enthusiastically received the dancers. In the press, the ensemble was dubbed the ballet, recognizing its high art.

6. And again the only one in the world. Moiseevites are the owners of a luxury unprecedented for a dance group: their own symphony orchestra. 35 classical and folk musicians have been accompanying dancers since the 1940s.

7. "Whoever calls himself a soloist - immediately fired"- said the creator of the team. There are no soloists and no corps de ballet in the ensemble: "Everyone teaches everything." But it has its own school and its own style. The selection to the team is tough, all the artists dance both in solo parts and in extras.

8. The highest form of recognition for the Moiseevites is the fact that the people consider the work of the collective to be their own. Like the Bulba dance. Igor Moiseev came up with it while watching the harvest of potatoes in Belarus, and years later he saw his production as folklore.

9. The Moiseev Ensemble was met with a full house in 60 countries of the world. The dancers performed at the best concert venues on the planet, including La Scala and Opera Garnier. For his productions, Igor Moiseev received about 30 foreign awards and the UNESCO Five Continents medal.

10. Choreographic miniatures and ballets, dance pictures and suites. High style Igor Moiseev brought to the folk dance from the academic dance. Soloist and choreographer of the Bolshoi led his ensemble for 70 years, staged 300 dances, and the 110th anniversary of the birth of Igor Moiseev is celebrated on the first stage of the master.

The State Academic Folk Dance Ensemble named after Igor Moiseev is the first and only professional choreographic group in the world engaged in artistic interpretation and promotion of dance folklore of the peoples of the world.

The ensemble was organized on February 10, 1937, and since then the main artistic principles of its development have been continuity and creative interaction of traditions and innovation. The main task, which was first set before the artists by the founder of the ensemble, Igor Moiseev (1906-2007), is the creative processing of folklore samples common at that time in the USSR. To this end, the artists of the ensemble went on folklore expeditions around the country, where they searched for and recorded disappearing dances, songs, rituals. As a result, the first programs of the ensemble appeared: "Dances of the Peoples of the USSR" (1937-1938), "Dances of the Baltic Peoples" (1939). In the repertoire of the ensemble, folklore samples have received a new stage life and have been preserved for several generations of viewers around the world. For this purpose, Igor Moiseev used all the means of stage culture: all types and types of dances, symphonic music, dramaturgy, scenography, acting skills.

An important step was the development and creative interpretation of European folklore. The program "Dances of the Slavic Peoples" (1945) was created in unique conditions: not being able to travel abroad, Igor Moiseev recreated living examples of dance creativity, consulting with musicians, folklorists, historians, and musicologists. On tour in 1946 in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, the audience was amazed at the accuracy of the productions, the true artistic meaning of the ensemble's stage works. Since that time and until now, the ensemble has been a school and a creative laboratory for choreographers from different countries, and its repertoire serves as a kind of choreographic encyclopedia of the dance culture of the peoples of the world. With the direct participation of well-known experts in folklore choreographers Miklos Rabai (Hungary), Lyubusha Ginkova (Czechoslovakia), Ahn Song-hi (Korea), whom Igor Moiseev attracted to work, the program "Peace and Friendship" (1953) was created, which for the first time collected samples of European and Asian dance folklore of eleven countries.

Based on the model of the Igor Moiseev Folk Dance Ensemble, choreographic groups were created in all the republics of the USSR (now the CIS countries), as well as in many European countries.

The Folk Dance Ensemble is the first Soviet group to go on tour during the Iron Curtain period. In 1955, the artists of the ensemble performed for the first time in Paris and London. The triumph of the Soviet dance troupe served as the first step towards international detente. In 1958, the Igor Moiseev Ensemble was also the first of the domestic ensembles to perform in the United States. The successful tour, the American press admitted, melted the ice of mistrust towards the USSR and became the basis for establishing new, constructive relations between our countries.

Another important merit of the Folk Dance Ensemble is the creation of the unique Moiseev School of Dance (1943), the only one in the world. Its distinguishing features are high professionalism, virtuoso technical equipment, and the ability to convey the improvisational nature of folk performance. Actor-dancers, trained by Igor Moiseev, are well-educated, versatile artists who are fluent in all types of dance, able to embody the national character in an artistic image. The dancer of the Moiseev school is the best recommendation anywhere in the world, in a choreographic group of any direction. The artists of the ensemble were awarded the titles of Honored and People's Artists of the USSR and Russia.

A vivid expression of the creative principles of educating actors-dancers is the program "The Road to Dance" ("Class Concert"), which clearly shows the creative path of the team from mastering individual elements to creating full-scale stage paintings. For the program "The Road to Dance" (1965), the group was the first of the folk dance ensembles to be awarded the title of "Academic", and Igor Moiseev - the Lenin Prize.

For their concert activity, which has been going on for more than 70 years, the team was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples. The ensemble has rightly been and remains the hallmark of our country abroad.

On different continents, viewers of different generations fell in love with the “crown” numbers of the Ensemble, which became the “calling cards” of the group: the legendary “Partisans”, the naval suite “Yablochko”, the old urban Quadrille, the Moldavian Jock, the Ukrainian Gopak, the Russian dance “Summer”, the incendiary Tarantella. The Ensemble gained great success with bright one-act performances staged by Igor Moiseev with the involvement of the means and techniques of world folk and theatrical culture - "Vesnyanki", "Tsam", "Sanchakou", "Polovtsian Dances" to the music of A. Borodin, "At the Skating Rink" on music by I. Strauss, "Night on Bald Mountain" to music by M. Mussorgsky, "Spanish Ballad" to music by Pablo di Luna, "An Evening in a Tavern" to music by Argentinean composers, etc.

And now, after the death of the permanent leader of the ensemble, Igor Moiseev, the choreographic level of the group still serves as an unsurpassed standard, and the title of "Moiseev" is synonymous with high professionalism.