Boris Moiseev Russian Dancer (1954–2022)

Early life

Boris Mikhailovich Moiseev was born on 4 March 1954 in Mahilyow, known in Russian as Mogilev, then part of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. He spent his childhood and teenage years in the city, brought up among his aunts. As a boy he was sent to a dance school, and dancing quickly became the centre of his interests. He left that school and moved to Minsk, where he was accepted into a choreography school and trained as a classical dancer.

Career

Although Moiseev had the technique for classical stage work, he was drawn to modern dance. After graduating he left Minsk and moved to Kharkiv, where he worked as a ballet teacher. In 1975 he was expelled from the Komsomol, the Soviet youth organisation, and he then relocated to Kaunas in Lithuania, where he became the head of a dance group called Trimitas.

His best-known early project came in 1978, when he created a dance trio named Ekspressiya. The trio became part of the studio of the singer Alla Pugacheva. In 1987 the three dancers stopped working with Pugacheva and went on tour in the United States, Italy and France. The group continued to exist for a long time afterwards. During this period Moiseev was also invited to work as a ballet teacher on several American shows.

Moiseev came back to Russia in 1991 and filmed a documentary about Ekspressiya. Over the following years he built a career as a solo performer on the Russian stage, working as a choreographer, dancer, singer, writer and actor, and as the creator of stage shows that were popular with audiences in Russia. His musical output is categorised as pop, and his releases appeared through PolyGram.

His discography includes a run of studio albums between 1996 and 2012: Child of Vice (1996), Holiday! Holiday! (1998), Just a Nutcracker (1999), In Secret... (2000), Swan (2000), Shall We Dance?! (2001), Alien (2002), Beloved Person (2004), Angel (2006), Bird. Live Sound (2007) and Pastor. The Best of Men (2012). Titles are given here in English translation, as they originally appeared in Russian. He also released a number of concert recordings on DVD, mostly in 2005, among them Just a Nutcracker, The Show Goes On, Swan and Kingdom of Love, followed by Ladies and Gentlemen and Desert in 2009.

Recognition

In 2006 Moiseev was named a Merited Artist of Russia. He also received a Golden Gramophone Award for his music. Altogether, two honours are recorded for him.

Personal life

Boris Moiseev died in Moscow on 27 September 2022.