TAGANOV Leonid Mikhailovich

Biography

20.01. or 24.05.1928, Pavlodar – approximately 2006.

Different dates of birth are indicated in different versions of the autobiography in the personal file of the ballet dancer.

Ballet dancer, teacher.

In 1932 the family moved from Pavlodar to Alma-Ata.

In 1933, together with his brother Valentin, he was given in an orphanage due to the difficult financial situation of the family.

1936-1945 – from the orphanage he was accepted to study at the Musical and Choreographic Center, which was later restructured into the Kazakh Choreographic School. Teachers: A.V. Seleznev, L.M. Molodyashin, M.I. Shatlovsky. Certificate with distinction.

15.07.1945 - 1950 – second soloist of the ballet of the Abay Kazakh State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre.

From 1950 - 1953 – he was a soloist of the ballet of the Abay Kazakh State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre..

1953 - 01.02.1967 – leading soloist of the ballet of the Abay Kazakh State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre..

Ballet repertoire: Worker (first performance "The Rivals"), Gardener ("The Rivals"), pas-de-trois of the act I ("Swan Lake"), Franz ("Coppelia"), Vaslav ("The Fountain of Bakhchisarai"), Murat (first performance, “Kambar and Nazim”), Phoenix (“Red Poppy”), Desire (“Sleeping Beauty”), Vanechka, Barmaley (“Doctor Aibolit”), Pavka Korchagin (“Youth”), Phoebus (first performance, “Esmeralda”), Jean-de-Brien (“Raymonda”), Basil (“Don Quixote”), Pyotr Bolokhov (“Coast of Happiness”), Gianciotto (first performance, “Francesca da Rimini”), Stranger (first performance, “Legend of love") pas-de-deux of the act 1 ("Giselle").

In the opera performances: Bacchus ("Walpurgis Night" in the opera "Faust"), Chief Archer ("Polovtsian camp" in the opera "Prince Igor"), Young man ("Rusalka"), one of the wrestlers ("Birzhan and Sara"), Eugene ("The Bronze Horseman"), Ali Batyr ("Shurale"), Ali ("The Way of Friendship"), etc.

The dancer possessed a high air jump, and in a duet he showed himself as a sensitive and strong partner.

After performing activities, he began teaching at the Alma-Ata Choreography School, taught classical and duet-classical dance, and was engaged in tutoring.

Awards: the medal "For Labor Distinction" (1959).

Bibliography

• Personal file of Leonid Taganov from the archive of the Abay KazNOBT.
• Sarynova L.P. Ballet Art of Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata: "Nauka", 1976. 176 p. (in Russian).
• Choreographers of Kazakhstan (Illustrated Information Guide) (1934 – 2012). – Almaty, 2012. 204 p. (in Russian).