The Bolshoi Ballet: One Man’s Hobby

For years Los Angeles ballet audiences have seen Dwight Grell tossing homemade carnation bouquets on stage at curtain calls.

What is not widely known, however, is that Grell, a former button factory employee of modest means, has single-handedly amassed one of the Western world’s largest private collections of Bolshoi memorabilia.

A portion of his holdings is on display in the Grand Hall of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion during the current Bolshoi engagement.

Grell’s nonprofit organization called Ballet of the Bolshoi Theatre Archive Collection consists of a three-member board and contains paintings, sculptures, books, programs, musical scores, dance shoes and many rare films and videos.

The Music Center display--the first Bolshoi exhibition in the United States, according to Grell--is mostly photographic and focused on the newest Bolshoi company members.

“This exhibit is very meaningful to me,” Grell explains. “It’s the culmination of all my years of work on the archives and it’s only possible now through the efforts of my board and our grass-roots community support.”

The tall, thin, consummate fan has been a very visible fixture at nearly every Bolshoi performance since 1959. As he recalls, “I literally walked in the theater one person and walked out another, it made that big an impression on me.”

The awe-struck teen-ager had no idea then just how much the impact of this experience would shape his future, propelling him from button factory to stage-door vigils to world travel and finally into the red-and-gold splendor of the Bolshoi Theater world.

The first Westerner ever permitted to film Bolshoi classes and rehearsals in Moscow, Grell says his story sounds like a fantasy come to life and has a lot to do with luck and coincidence, but it also reveals his persistence and willingness to spend his meager resources on cultural riches.

Why the Bolshoi rather than some other company? “Because,” he explains, “their style is unlike any other company in the world. They’re dynamic, powerful and dramatic--they sort of emotionally rush you along with them. They give me great joy and that’s a major reason for my archives--I wanted to do something constructive to thank them, and this is my cultural bridge.”

Through the years, Grell, who does not speak Russian, has managed to establish and maintain warm friendships with Bolshoi members, who visit him when they are in Los Angeles. They have added innumerable personalized items to his collection and thus the meticulously maintained archives, which began modestly with one autographed photo, have grown to epic proportions, with purchased or donated items arriving constantly.

With Grell now adding Kirov Ballet material, the collection is spilling out of his home.

He and his board of directors are eager to raise funds to acquire a permanent public facility for the collection, to preserve it and make it more accessible. Until now the collection has been available by appointment only and has been used mostly by serious dance educators and students.

David Wilcox, director of the Long Beach Ballet, has used some of Grell’s films with his company and classes and says, “Dwight’s film collection is invaluable because he has some choreographies that aren’t available in the West and are helpful for studying styles.”

Local dancer Helena Ross prepared for the rigors of the 1986 International Ballet Competition by studying Grell’s videos of prior competitions. “And I learned all my Russian repertoire from his films,” she says. “I couldn’t have done that anywhere else.”

Grell is frequently invited to give film presentations at schools and universities around the country, another archival use he feels is important. “When I was young,” he says, “my only exposure to the arts was at young people’s concerts in school. That’s why I feel this is so essential.”

Reflecting on the recent resolution from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for his contribution to the arts, Grell says that “there’s nothing extraordinary about me. I don’t have a great deal of scholarly knowledge, although I’ve read many books about Russian ballet and I took ballet class for two years to better understand the art.

“People may see what I do as strange or obsessive, but it’s really not. Some people are devoted to stamp collecting or sports; this just happens to be the avenue I turn down.”

He pauses and laughs. “I must say, it’s been a very grand avenue.”