Background
Messerer, Asaf was born on November 19, 1903 in Vilnius.
choreographer ballet dancer ballet master
Messerer, Asaf was born on November 19, 1903 in Vilnius.
Graduated from the Moscow Choreographic School, 1921. Pupil of A. Gorskii.
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.