Asaf Messerer - biography

Asaf Mikhailovich Messerer (Russian: Асаф Михайлович Мессерер, November 19, 1903 - March 7, 1992) was a Russian Jewish ballet dancer and ballet teacher. He was born in Vilinius, Lithuania. From 1919 until 1921 he trained as a dancer at the Bolshoi Ballet School under Mikhail Mordkin. He then joined the Bolshoi Theatre, where he became a successful soloist, eventually becoming their chief soloist, a post he retired from in 1954.

Today Messerer is best remembered as a choreographer and an instructor; he was both the choreographer and ballet master for the Bolshoi Theatre. His book Classes in Classical Ballet is a thorough study of proper ballet technique and is still used today.

Messerer was the brother of Sulamith Messerer and the uncle of Maya Plisetskaya. He won multiple awards from the USSR and from Lithuania.