Е.К. Малиновская и балет

Abstract

Elena Konstantinovna Malinovskaya (1875–1942) played a significant, albeit, at a first glance, not a particularly distinguishable role in the history of the Russian stage. After the revolution, she directed a number of Moscow State (which held the appellations of Academic starting from 1919) theaters until 1924, during the years 1930–1935 she was the director of the Bolshoi Theater. For eleven years, Malinovskaya's personality, artistic views and administrative tactics influenced in various degrees the development of one of the two largest ballet companies in the country. She was compelled to take into account the tastes of high-ranking “curators” of the theater (Anatoly Lunacharsky, Avel Enukidze et al.), to comply with the demands of a powerful trade union organization, adapt to Communist Party censorship, struggle against the desires of choreographers and dancers for tours abroad, which frequently turned into one–way trips. Malinovskaya had to deal with, and not unsuccessfully, not only management of theaters, and also provide for the living conditions of artists. On the basis of materials introduced into scholarly circulation for the first time (first of all, from Malinovskaya's extensive personal funds in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art and the A.A. Bakhrushin State Central Theater Museum), this article examines the complex relationships of Elena Malinovskaya, the Bolshoi Theater Ballet Troupe and various public figures from the world of art and politics, involved in ballet in various degrees, during the years 1918–1935. Overall, Malinovskaya's artistic activities have been evaluated highly in the history of Russian ballet.