Gedeminas Taranda - ballet dancer, soloist of the Bolshoi Theater, founder of the "Imperial Russian Ballet". His career was difficult, but the artist did not break down, bravely survived all the trials and became the pride of his country.
Childhood
Gedeminas Taranda was born in 1961 in the city of Kaliningrad. An explosive mixture of nationalities united in his family, his father is Lithuanian, and his mother is a Don Cossack. Parents could not get along together because of different temperaments, and little Gedeminas was brought up alternately with his father's parents, then with his mother's parents. He recalls strict grandfathers who, as punishment for leprosy, put him in a corner on peas, with reverence. And leprosy in the life of a future dancer met quite often, he could not sit still and all the time tried to learn how this world works.
As a child, Gedeminas did not even think about art, he intensively went in for sports, including martial arts. The dancer himself believes that this tempered his character and allowed him to always achieve his goals in the future.
Education
Gedeminas entered the Voronezh Choreographic School not at the call of his heart, but for the company with his comrades who went to the cinema for free thanks to their studies at this institution. And then only the fighting character of the future star manifested itself in full force, he wanted to become the first among his peers.
Having won a dance competition, Taranda realized that he felt cramped in Voronezh, and decided to transfer to Moscow. The young man conquered the Moscow Choreographic School with his charm, but then the real painstaking work has already gone.
Creative way
After graduating from college, Gedeminas was assigned to the Bolshoi Theater in the corps de ballet. And the very first performance of Taranda made him famous throughout the theater. Not only was the dancer late with his exit, he also got entangled in woolen socks and fell right on the stage!
But a lucky chance helped the young talent. The soloist fell ill, and Gedeminas was instructed to dance the main part. And here he has already coped with his task brilliantly. Yuri Grigorovich noticed an extraordinary talent, and the two masters together produced several wonderful performances.
Taranda toured a lot, but one day he suddenly became restricted to travel abroad, and this almost broke the life of the young talent. Moreover, shortly after this sad event, the dancer was unexpectedly fired from the Bolshoi Theater. Gedeminas always remained true to himself, did not ask anyone for anything. And when the court invited him to return to the Bolshoi stage, he refused, realizing that he gave the theater everything he could.
Knowing well the problems of Russian ballet, Taranda decided to create his own troupe, which he called the "Imperial Russian Ballet". Now this troupe is extremely popular and enjoys success in Russia and abroad.
Personal life
Gedeminas Taranda was married several times, but he found real family happiness in his last marriage with his student Anastasia Drigo. The couple has a child.
