Konstantin Sergeyev; Dancer, Choreographer

Konstantin Sergeyev, a renowned dancer, choreographer and former director of the Kirov Ballet, who staged a highly praised Soviet-American “Swan Lake” in Boston two years ago, is dead at 83.

On Sunday, the Associated Press, quoting the St. Petersburg Gazette, said Sergeyev had died on April 1. The Soviet newspaper did not give a cause of death or explain the delay in reporting it.

“All that Konstantin Sergeyev has done for the development of Russian ballet will remain forever in the history of the culture of our country,” said ballet star Dmitry Grigorovich.

His most recent production was “Corsar” at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.

The obituary was signed by leading politicians and ballet artists, including Russian State Secretary Gennady Burbulis and St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak. It was also signed by Sergeyev’s wife, Natalya Dudinskaya, a well-known ballerina who helped him with the “Swan Lake” production that featured five principals of the Kirov and Bolshoi companies from the Soviet Union, five American principals, two Soviet stage directors and a North American production team.

“All through his life, Sergeyev has been an example of the selfless servant of art,” the obituary said.

Sergeyev joined the Kirov ballet in 1930 and served as artistic director and ballet master from 1951-55 and from 1960-70. Since 1973, he headed the Leningrad Choreographic School.

As a dancer he was linked with noble and romantic parts. With the legendary Galina Ulanova they created the title roles in Leonid Lavrovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet” at the Kirov in 1940.

Sergeyev also created roles in “Shurale” and danced featured parts in “The Bronze Horseman,” “Taras Bulba” and opposite his wife in “Giselle.”

Known as a hardheaded, volatile dance director, Sergeyev’s rigidity was blamed partially for the defections of Kirov superstars Rudolf Nureyev and Natalya Makarova. Earlier, he and his wife had been accused in letters to Pravda from younger dancers that the couple had continued to perform at the Kirov well past their primes. It was shortly after that period in the early ‘60s that Sergeyev concentrated exclusively on choreography.

As a choreographer he created “Path of Thunder, “Cinderella” and “Hamlet” with Mikhail Baryshnikov.