The studies and career of Lyubov Mikhailovna Bank, an artist of the Bolshoi Theater, fell on the era of innovation in ballet art, which allowed her to become a graceful, refined and memorable ballerina in the leading parts of many works of classical ballet.
Biography
Lyubov Mikhailovna Bank was born on July 2 (old style June 19), 1903 in the city of Moscow of the Russian Empire. The celebrity died on June 13, 1984, also in Moscow, but already in the USSR.
A ballerina was born into a famous artistic family. Her mother was a singer, and her grandfather P. M. Medvedev is a famous theatrical figure and one of the first honored artists of the Imperial Theaters. He was greatly concerned about the state of culture, not only in big cities, but also in the hinterland. After his death, there were many works devoted to the issue of culture in the Russian provinces.
Stepmother and sister P. M. Medvedev was also related to art; both women were dramatic actresses in the troupe of the Imperial Theater.
Since childhood, Lyubov Mikhailovna dreamed of continuing the family theatrical traditions, but she chose a path different from the rest.
Career
At the age of 10, young Lyubov Mikhailovna enters the Moscow Ballet School, where the Honored Artist of the Imperial Theaters Alexander Gorsky becomes her teacher and mentor. At the same time, she takes private lessons from the choreographer Legate.
The studies of the future famous ballerina coincided with the moment of a radical change in the system of staging and performing the dance. The outstanding choreographer Kasyan Goleizovsky strove to expand the existing framework, experimented in search of new forms, striving to raise ballet art to new heights. His reformatory, sometimes shocking performances in experimental studios demanded an appropriate composition of the troupe.
It was Lyubov Mikhailovna, who had not yet graduated from the ballet school, in 1818, along with other young dancers, was enrolled in the professional ballet studio of the innovator Goleizovsky.
In 1919, Lyubov Bank completed her education. She continued to work with Kasyan Goleizovsky, while continuing to study with the Legat. During her work in the studio, the aspiring ballerina performed the part of Lisette in the play "Tiolenda" and got the role of "Queen Tayakh" in the ballet "Joseph the Beautiful".
In 1920, Lyubov Mikhailovna was enrolled in the troupe of the Bolshoi Theater, on the stage of which she made her debut, performing the part of Lisa's friend in Hertel's ballet “A Vain Precaution”.
As part of the Bolshoi troupe, the ballerina was honored with leading roles in well-known classical works: "La Bayadère", "Sleeping Beauty", "Bakhchisarai Fountain", she got the role of Odette-Odilia in "Swan Lake", she was also the Tsar Maiden in "The Little Humpbacked Horse" ". The ballet audience also singled out her brilliant roles in the ballets Romeo and Juliet (Senora Capulet) and Khovanshchina (Persian).
Performing at the Bolshoi Theater, Lyubov Mikhailovna continued to collaborate with Goleizovsky, performing parts in modern styles for him. In 1922 his studio was transformed and became known as the Moscow Chamber Ballet. It lasted only 2 years. It was in 1924 that Goleizovsky was invited to work at the Bolshoi Theater as a choreographer.
In 1930, on the personal order of Stalin, transformations were carried out in Soviet ballet, which seriously undermined the aesthetic direction of the Moscow ballet school. Despite the high professional level of the leading artists and choreographers of the Bolshoi Theater, they began to be replaced by specially invited personnel from Leningrad. It was they who now got significant posts and leading parties. This led to serious consequences. Moscow artists were actually not needed, and the very direction of the Bolshoi Theater was under threat.
Lyubov Mikhailovna Bank continued to perform at the Bolshoi Theater, occasionally content with solo parts. The ballerina devoted most of her career to participating in concert programs and touring trips.
Cooperation with the experimenter Goleizovsky allowed the Bank to acquire special skills that are perfectly combined with classical ballet technique. This is what allowed the ballerina to earn the most flattering reviews and reviews for her work.
Lyubov Mikhailovna Bank left the stage of the Bolshoi Theater in 1947 with the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR.
