Russian choreographer Igor Moiseyev dies at age 101

November 2, 2007 , who has been widely acclaimed as the greatest 20th-century choreographer of, has died today after a long illness. He was 101 years old.

Born Igor Alexandrovich Moiseyev on January 21, 1906 in, Moiseyev graduated from the  school in 1924 and danced in the theatre until 1939. His first choreography in the Bolshoi was Footballer in 1930 and the last was in 1954.

Since the early 1930s, he staged acrobatic on  and finally came up with the idea of establishing the Theatre of Folk Art. In 1936, put him in charge of the new dance company, which has since been known as the Moiseyev Ballet. Among about 200 dances he created for his company, some humorously represented the game of and. After visiting Belarus he choreographed a Belarusian "folk" dance ("Potato"), which over the years indeed became a Belarusian folk dance. According to the, Moiseyev's work has been especially admired "for the balance that it maintained between authentic folk dance and theatrical effectiveness".

Moiseyev was named in 1953,  in 1976, received the  (1967, for the dance show A Road to the Dance), four  (1942, 1947, 1952, 1985), Russian Federation State Prize (1996), was awarded numerous orders and medals of the Soviet Union, Spain, and many other countries. On the day of his centenary, Moiseyev became the first Russian to receive Order for the Merits before the Fatherland, 1st class — the highest civilian decoration of the.