Stukolkin, Lev Petrovich

Born into a family of freed peasants of the nobles Shchepotievs in St. Petersburg on February 19 ( March 3 ), 1837 . After graduating from the ballet department of the Theater School, he was accepted in March 1857 as a leading figure to the ballet troupe of the Mariinsky Theater , where he danced until 1884, when he was dismissed with retaining the title of actor of the Imperial Theaters ^[1] . At the same time, he was engaged in staging ballet divertissements on private stages.

Of the large solo parts in his repertoire, the most famous was the woodcutter's part from the ballet “A Midsummer Night's Dream”; however, he regularly performed as understudies in large parties and was always busy on-site performances.

At the beginning of his artistic career, he began giving private lessons in ballroom dancing, and after being dismissed from the theater, he closely engaged in teaching dances "in male and female public schools," in particular in the 1st St. Petersburg and Larinska gymnasiums; in 1888-1894 he taught dance at the Tsarskoye Selo gymnasium .

An important part of the dance life of L. P. Stukolkin was also the organization and holding of dance evenings with the performance of the ball manager's duties, and in 1885 his book The Experienced Manager and Teacher of Ball Dances appeared. This textbook on the history of dance was in demand, and in 1890 it was supplemented by Stukolkin and was re-printed. And in 1894 the third edition of the book was published. Finally, in 1901, the fourth (posthumous) edition of the textbook appeared. In addition, the manuscript of L. P. Stukolkin “A Historical Essay on Petersburg Ballet” is kept in the A.Ye. Molchanov's Foundation in the RGIA , which was the editor of the magazine “Yearbook of the Imperial Theaters”.

L. P. Stukolkin died in St. Petersburg on May 20 ( June 1 ), 1895 from tuberculosis. He was buried in the cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery . Obituaries about him indicated that "he was one of the best ballroom dance teachers in St. Petersburg."

Wife (since September 5, 1858): actress of the Alexandrinsky Theater Varvara Vasilyevna Strelskaya . They had many children: Nikolay was born in 1859, Lydia - in 1863, Boris - in 1869. The two who were born later died in 1873 in infancy: Alexander lived only two and a half years, Maria — even less, four and a half months (she was born and died in 1873). In 1876, Vladimir was born and died ^[2] . The last daughter, Natalia, was born in 1884 and was a very painful girl.

Boris was twice on trial (once was involved with his brother Nikolai for theft); families of children lived with their parents - after the death of her husband, in 1905, Varvara Stukolkina indicated that there were 17 dependents there.

• Ballet: Encyclopedia / Ch. ed. Yu. N. Grigorovich. - M .: "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1981.
• Stukolkin Lev Petrovich (1837–1895)
• Stukolkin Lev Petrovich
• Stukolkin Lev Petrovich. Ballroom dancing teacher and manager