People`s Artist of Armenia Norayr Mehrabyan has passed away.

ArmInfo. Norayr Mehrabyan, People's Artist of the Republic of Armenia, winner of the Movses Khorenatsi and Mesrop Mashtots medals, and founder of the Barekamutyun State Dance Ensemble of Armenia, has passed away at the age of 84. The press service of the National Center of Folk Music and Dance of Armenia reported this.

"The death of Norayr Mehrabyan is an irreparable and grave loss for the Armenian art of dance. The entire staff of the National Center of Folk Music and Dance expresses its deepest condolences to the master's family, his relatives, colleagues, students, and all admirers of his work," the Center said in a statement on its Facebook page.

Mehrabyan was born in 1941 in Yerevan. In 1948, he became a student at the Yerevan Choreographic School. From 1973 to 1983, Mehrabyan served as artistic director of the Yerevan Choreographic School, and from 1984 to 1986, he was artistic director of the Spendiaryan Theater's ballet troupe.