Fans paid tribute on Friday in Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre to late ballet supremo Yuri Grigorovich, who died this week at the age of 98. Born in the Soviet city of Leningrad to a ballet family, Grigorovich's career -- as a dancer and choreographer -- spanned 80 years. For much of it, he was the artistic powerhouse behind the Bolshoi, which he was said to have run with an iron fist.

Grigorovich made his name staging classics such as The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and The Stone Flower. The latter was his most famous piece, based on folk tales from the Urals accompanied by composer Sergei Prokofiev's music. He then led the Bolshoi between 1964 and 1995.

Pallbearers carry a portrait of the late ballet figure Yuri Grigorovich.

"This man was a gift from God," Agnessa Balieva, 78, a former star dancer at the Bolshoi, told AFP when she came to pay tribute to Grigorovich. The choreographer's coffin was covered in garlands in front of the stage of the Bolshoi, alongside a large black and white portrait of him, while music from his ballets was played.

After a two-hour farewell ceremony, the coffin was carried out of the theatre to a standing ovation from admirers gathered outside. Grigorovich is to be laid to rest at Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery -- next to his wife Natalia Bessmertnova, a former prima ballerina who died in 2008. "He was a great man, a genius, a legend," said Ilia Krivov, a 42-year-old former Bolshoi dancer. He said Grigorovich had elevated male ballet to "an unprecedented level". "Grigorovich was the soul of the Bolshoi," said Svetlana Staris, a journalist and poet, hailing a figure who "revolutionised ballet".  - AFP