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| russian ballet | |
| johansson, christian | |
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| johannson, christian | |
| swedish ballet dancers | |
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| 1817 births | |
| 1903 deaths | |
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Christian Johansson ( 1817 Р1903 ) was a teacher, Choreographer and coaching Balletmaster for the Russian Imperial Ballet . Born Pehr Christian Johansson in Stockholm , Sweden on June 1, 1817, he moved to Russia as a dancer and stayed on as one of the most important teachers in Russian history. He is remembered in Russia as exemplifying the artistic beauty of the male dancer. He began teaching in 1860 and by 1869 had become the leading ballet instructor at the Imperial Ballet School . He stayed there until his death in 1903. Johansson studied under Bournonville and partnered the great Ballerina Marie Taglioni . A CHARMED LIFE Johansson made his debut on the stage of the Royal Opera House in Stockholm. Naturally endowed to be a fine dancer, he was noticed by the great Danish Choreographer Auguste Bournonville. After studying with Bournonville in Copenhagen for two years, Johansson earned the right to be called his pupil and was trained in the French classical style "la belle danse." Beautiful, flexible and graceful in the best tradition of the French school, Johansson attracted the attention of critics. In addition, the great Romantic ballerina, Marie Taglioni made a condition of her engagement in Stockholm that Johansson be her partner. Johansson went on to partner other great ballerinas as well, especially during his time in St. Petersburg. Some of these include Fanny Elssler , Carlotta Grisi , Ad̬le Grantzow, Elena Andreyanova, Tatyana Smirnova, Marfa Muravieva, Nadezhda Bogdanova and Fanny Cerrito . His move to Russia at the beginning of the 1840's helped Johansson's career as a dancer. At that time in Europe , the popularity of the male Danseur enjoyed less importance than that of the Ballerina . Only in St. Petersburg could a male dancer achieve great success and there he could perform his own solos, rather than appearing only as a ballerina's partner. This perhaps explains the appearance of the great artistic talents, Marius Petipa , Jules Perrot , Arthur Saint-Leon and Johansson himself at the Russian Imperial Ballet. His stage career spanned four Decade s and included hundreds of Ballet s. When it ended in 1883, continued teaching classes at Imperial Ballet School on Theatre Street in St. Petersburg, something he had done for ten years already. By the end of the 19th Century , there was not one ballerina appearing on the stage of the Maryinsky Theatre who had not been taught by Johansson either at the Imperial Ballet School or at the Theatre's "Classe de Perfection". Tall and thin with semingly perfect posture, the aging Johansson would appear in ballet class with a small Violin and thick stick. He used this in order to keep the musical beat underneath his mumbled counts of the music. Sometimes the stick was set aside and, instead of his melancholic voice, his violin would sing and enliven the class with simple melodies from the ballets of his youth. This was a novel approach for the relatively severe atmosphere of the school. A calm, well-mannered man, he set an example of graciousness and was admired by the students. Johansson's pupils were not the only ones who were impacted by him. The Imperial / Tchaikovsky ballet '' The Sleeping Beauty '' (1890). Christian Johansson's daughter, the Ballerina Anna Christianovna Johansson (1860-1917), was a celebrated soloist of the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet , and created roles in nearly every important premiere throughout the late 1880s until burn injuries forced her to retire in 1895. Among the roles she created - the fairy ''Canari que chant'' and the ''Diamond Fairy'' in the ''Pas de Quatre of the Precious Stones'' from Petipa's '' The Sleeping Beauty '' (1890), ''Aurora, goddess of the dawn'' in Petipa's '' The Awakening Of Flora '' (1894), and the lead Ballerina of the ''Waltz of the Flowers'' in the premiere of '' The Nutcracker '' (1892). |
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