Gediminas Taranda: biography and personal life (photo)

Honored worker of the Russian Federation, Gediminas Leonid Taranda, was born on February 26, 1961 in the glorious city of Kaliningrad. Gediminas's mother (with Solovyev's maiden name) was from a Cossack family, and his father was Leonas Taranda, a colonel of Lithuanian origin.

Biography of Gediminas

After several years of living together father and mother divorced, after which the woman moved with the children back to Voronezh. Even in his childhood and youth Gediminas was very keen on wrestling, canoeing, football and judo. At the same time, his mother worked in Voronezh, in the theater of opera and ballet, thanks to which the young man visited all the performances. Undoubtedly, this had a significant impact on Gediminas, as a result of which, in 1974, after the end of the 8th grade, he entered the Voronezh Choreography School, and then, after two years, after long and stubborn training - in the Moscow Choreographic. Subsequently, according to the distribution, the young Gediminas enters the Bolshoi Theater, where he performs for the first time in the play Don Quixote. By the way, Taranda made a bad debut: in addition to the fact that the actor was late with going on stage (because he forgot to remove woolen socks), so he also fell.

Nevertheless, it is from this moment that Gediminas began his dizzying career. Then, in the 80s, the Bolshoi Theater went to see a talented actor rather than the ballet itself.

The performances of "Raymond" and "The Golden Age" were specially staged for the young artist Yuri Grigorovich. In 1984, Gediminas Taranda first appeared on tour abroad - it happened in Mexico. The consequences of this trip were not the most successful - he was banned from leaving the country for 4 years, and in 1993, and even fired from the Bolshoi Theater.

A year later, Gediminas created the world-famous "Imperial Russian Ballet", the company of which consists of 40 people, and the repertoire of the theater - 15 magnificent productions. At the beginning of the XXI century (2004) Taranda was accepted into the staff of the Mossovet Theater as an actor.

Personal life

At first glance, Gediminas's personal life was not easy. So, quite a long time after him was fixed the title of "the main donjuan of the Russian ballet", and all because of numerous novels. He married for the first time at the age of 19, but both the first and second marriage were not lasting.

Currently Gediminas Taranda is married to Anastasia Drigo. With it, he met when a very young Nastya came to enter the choreography studio. However, at first the head of the studio did not want to take the girl to the ballet troupe, referring to the young age. Nevertheless, Anastasia was accepted, and already then the head of the "Imperial Russian Ballet" drew attention to the diligent young ballerina who regularly followed all instructions of the teacher and listened, holding her breath, every word he spoke. At that time, she was only 17, and he was 41.

Love story

The history of Gediminas and Anastasia is very romantic. It began during the French tour. In order to invite Nastya to a first date, Taranda threw stones at her window at night, and they met dawn in an ancient knight's tower. Then, early in the morning, Gediminas proposed to her.

Anastasia is younger than Gediminas for 22 years, but this has no effect on their relationship. After a while, in 2004, the young couple's daughter Daemante (in Lithuanian, her name means "pearl") was born. Taranda does not like a soul in a little princess, moreover, he himself says that for the father there is nothing better than the birth of a daughter. It is worth saying that Damante already at such a young age is interested in ballet, she is happy to watch performances with the participation of the pope instead of the cartoons. Many already now prophesy to the girl career of the ballerina - at small Дэйманте tremendous flexibility and plastic. After all, genes are a great power!

Gediminas Taranda, whose biography is not as simple as it seems at first glance, has another daughter from a civil marriage with the presenter of Channel One, Marina Baranova. Elizabeth is now studying in a dance school and has already won many prizes.

The Imperial Ballet ...

The idea of creating a grandiose collective, whose fame has now reached the world scale, came to Gediminas after the young dancer was fired from the Bolshoi Theater. This ballet was created in honor of the most famous dancers of the whole world, and its activity is dedicated to the real "emperors" and "kings" of the big stage. Gediminas Taranda, in order to maintain his theater, was forced to engage in commercial activities - he created a series of cosmetics for foot care. However, in this field of activity he did not achieve such success as in the ballet.

... and another career

In addition to the theater Taranda to some extent mastered and acting career. So, he took part in the shooting of the film "Youth Bambi", the musical "The Bureau of Happiness", and also starred with Inna Churikova and even played hockey at the Olympics in Turin.

In addition, the famous dancer took part in popular large-scale television projects - "King of the Ring" and "Ice Age". In the last Gediminas Taranda and Irina Slutskaya (his partner was a two-time world champion in figure skating) delighted the audience with his incredible skill and professional skills.

Epilogue

The Bolshoi Theater is inextricably linked with such a name as Gediminas Taranda. Ballet, as a direction in art, can not be imagined without this man, and "Imperial Russian Ballet" - even more so. It is worth to pay tribute to the famous dancer - he managed to preserve and multiply the unity and integrity of the Russian ballet school, the traditions of which have been handed down from generation to generation for many years. Of course, the name of the group speaks for itself. In theatrical productions stars of not only Russian ballet, but also famous dancers from other countries take part. And Gediminas Taranda leads all this. Photos presented to your attention, allow you to assess the genius and artistry of the famous person.

This man made an invaluable contribution to the history of Russian ballet and the whole of art in general. Gediminas Taranda is a great dancer who went to his glory firmly and confidently, despite the difficulties and obstacles that have arisen along the way.