Dancer
Director
Born 1867, Russia
 
Died 1941
Aleksandr SHIRYAEV
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Александр Викторович ШИРЯЕВ
Aleksandr CHIRIAEV
Filmography (extracts)
 
Director
1906 - Pierrot - Artists (Пьеро — художники) [animation, 5 mn]

Other films
- Baby Dance fom Die Puppenfee; 01 mn 20 s
- Hindu Dance fom La Bayadère; 03 mn 00 s
- Two Pierrots Playing Ball; 01 mn 20 s
- Mulate Dancer; 00 mn 30 s
- Pierrot-Artists, Version 1; 03 mn 00 s
- Pierrot-Artists, Version 2; 05 mn 35 s
- Harlequins Jest (Shutka Arlekina); 13 mn 50 s
- Birds in Flight; 00 mn 20 s
- Snake; 00 mn 15 s
- Cakewalk; 02 mn 00 s
- The Buffoon's Dance (The Nutcracker); 01 mn 30 s
- The Lodger and the Spider; 01 mn 52 s
- The Enchanted Tea Table; 00 mn 45 s
- Magical Dressing 00 mn 30 s
- Pierrot and the Maid; 06 mn 00 s
- Circus Performers; 00 mn 35 s
- Ukrainian Folk Dance 1; 01 mn 30 s
- Cossack Dance; 01 mn 20 s
- Fool's Dance from Petipa's Mlada; 01 mn 02 s
- Dance of the Little Corsair (from the Corsair); 01 mn 00 s
- Hungarian Dance; 02 mn 00 s
- Japanese Dance (with Fan); 02 mn 00 s
- Character Dance with Tambourine; 01 mn 00 s
- Matelot; 02 mn 00 s

Biography
Son of the ballet dancer SHIRYAEVA and a grandson of the composer Cesar Puni, in 1885 Alexander Shiryaev graduated from the St. Petersburg Theatre School. He was a student of M.Petipa, P.Gerdt, P.Karsavin, L.Ivanov. Since 1886, he had been the leading dancer of the Mariinsky Theatre working under Moris Petipa. Since 1900, he had been an aide of the Mariinsky Theatre ballet-master. Since 1903, he had been the second ballet-master at the Mariinsky Theatre. He restored the ballets: «Naiad and fisherman», «The Harlem tulip», «Coppelia». In his years at the Mariinsky Theatre, he performed in 32 ballets. Among his parts are: Milon in “The King’s Order”, Fairy Karabos in “The Sleeping Beauty”, Ivan-the-Fool in “The Hunchback Horse”, Quasimodo in “Esmeralda”, Harlequin and Cassandr in “Harlequinade”, Coppelius in “Coppelia”, Seif-Pasha in “Corsair”, Abdurrahman in “Raymonda”, Marceline in “La fille mal gardée”, Fool in “Mlada”, Buffoon in “Nutcracker”, and others. In 1905, he retired and organized a Class of Character Dance at the Mariinsky Theatre. In 1909 -1917, he worked as a dancer and ballet-master in Germany, England, France and other countries. He worked also as a coach in Anna Pavlova’s group. In 1891-1909, he was a professor at the St. Petersburg Theatre School. In 1918-1941, he was a professor at the Leningrad Choreographic School. Among his students are:A.Monakhov, A.Orlov, B.Romanov, F.Lopukhov, A.Chekrygin, N.Anissimova, P.Gussev, and others. He is a co-author of the first in the world handbook “Elements of Character Dance” (1939), an author of yet unpublished book: “The St. Petersburg Ballet: memoirs of the Mariinsky Theatre dancer” (1941). (http://www.kinodance.com/russia/films_russian_selection.html)
Bocharov, a filmmaker and historian, discovered an extraordinary cache of these films.
 

Commentaries and bibliography
- Пьеро — художники - первый в истории кукольный мультфильм, 1906. ["Pierrot - Artistes" - le premier dessin animé de marionnettes de l'histoire, 1906.] Елена ФРОЛОВА, 2019, Kont
- Alexander Shiryaev : master of movement , Birgit BEUMERS, Victor BOCHAROV, David ROBINSON, 2009, Le giornate del cinema muto
- Заметки на полях кинопленки , Nikolay IZVOLOV, 2004, kinozapiski.ru