“God of the Dance”

Ballet fans worldwide know Vladimir Vasiliev as the “God of the dance … A miracle in art, perfection,” according to Russia’s most influential ballet writer Fedor Lopukhov.  He is a virtuoso of the highest order, the only dancer to be given the title “World’s Best Dancer” by the Paris Dance Academy.  Vasiliev is also a noted choreographer, director and professor. 

Born in Moscow in 1940, Vasiliev graduated from the Moscow Ballet School in 1958 and joined the Bolshoi Ballet where he soon became a Premiere Danseur.  His coaches were famous dancers and ballet masters of the Bolshoi -- Mikhail Gabovich, Alexei Yermolaev, Asaf Messerer and the legendary Galina Ulanova. 

Combining a brilliant technique with a highly artistic and original acting style, Vladimir Vasilev set the standard for classical male dance in the second part of the 20th century.  Numerous roles were created specially for him throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s.  Among the most notable were those made by Yuri Grigorovich, who entrusted him with the principal roles in most of his original productions of The Stone Flower, Spartacus, The Nutcracker, Ivan The Terrible and Angara.  Vasiliev’s legendary portrayal of Spartacus “joined the select ranks of performances possessing a universally cultural and timeless significance, such as Anna Pavlova’s Swan and Galina Ulanova’s Juliet,” according to celebrated choreographer Assaf Messerer.  His roles in ballet classics, including Albrecht in Giselle, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, and Basil in Don Quixote, won the admiration of audiences all over the world.  In his dancing he was creating the role together with the choreographer:  “A magician of the art of dance and glory of the Russian ballet,” is how dancer/choreographer Serge Lifar described this brilliant dancer.  Maurice Bejart, when making his Petrushka for Vasiliev, remarked that “he had never seen such a dancer.” 

Since branching out in 1988 Vladimir Vasiliev has been in great demand as a star dancer and choreographer, with guest performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, La Scala, Opera de Paris, and many others.  His legendary partner ballerinas have included Galina Ulanova, Maya Plisetskaya, Alicia Alonso, Carla Fracci, Rita Poelvoorde, as well as his wife, brilliant Bolshoi ballerina Ekaterina Maximova. 

Vasiliev started staging and choreographing for the Bolshoi and other big theatres in the Soviet Union and abroad in the 1970s.  Among the most noted ballets he created before 1995 were Icarus in the Bolshoi; Macbeth in the Bolshoi, Deutsche Opera Berlin, Budapest Opera and Kremlin Ballet; Anyuta in the Bolshoi and Teatro di San Carlo; Don Quixote in American Ballet Theatre and Teatro di San Carlo; Giselle in Opera di Roma; Romeo and Juliet in the Moscow Musical Theatre of Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko, Latvian and Lithuanian National Operas; and a range of experimental works for stage. 

His artistic activity of that time included numerous film projects such as: TV film-ballet The House on the Roadside (as lead dancer, choreographer and director 1984); the feature film, Fouete (choreographer, lead dancer, co-producer, 1986); the TV film The Gospel from the Evil One (choreographer, 1992); and Franco Zefferelli’s feature film of Verdi’s La Traviata (choreographer, dancer, 1982.) 

During his 1995-2000 tenure as Director of the Bolshoi Theatre Vasiliev created the many ballets detailed below, and has since his retirement in 2000 continued staging and choreographing ballets around the world.  That work includes staging Paganini in Teatro Argentino (Argentina), Romeo and Juliet in Teatro Municipal (Brasil), Don Quixote in Tokyo Ballet (Japan), and dances in Franco Zeffirelli’s production of Aida at Arena di Verona. 

In 1991 Vasiliev first staged Cinderella, with costumes by Gerard Pitar from Nina Ricci, for the Kremlin Ballet.  That production toured to Paris, Italy and Greece, and was set on the Cheliabinsk Opera in 2002.  Never satisfied, Vasiliev is creating a whole new production, with new choreography, direction, costume and scenic design, and a revised libretto, for the Veronezh State Theatre of Opera and Ballet, touring as the State Ballet Theatre of Russia.  It’s set to premiere in Voronezh July 15, 2006. 

In 1995 by decree of then President of  Russia Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Vasiliev was appointed the General and Artistic Director of the Bolshoi Theatre, and remained at this post until 2000.  Under his leadership the disparate artistic areas united and learned to work together, resulting in a flowering of artistic potential, a huge growth of new repertoire, and the discovery of new talent.  He introduced democratic reforms and a contract system.  During his directorship, no artist left the Bolshoi for abroad.  His energetic efforts resulted in many important touring projects of the Bolshoi Theatre, reviving its glory in the West.  He founded the first Bolshoi Ballet School abroad, in Joinville, Brasil in 1999, and organized the magnificent first-ever New Year Ball in the Bolshoi on December 31, 1999. 

Apart from the administrative duties, Vasiliev was also actively involved in the creative life of the Bolshoi.  The productions he conceived, choreographed or directed during 1995-2000 at the Bolshoi included:  dances in the opera Khovanchtchina (1995); opera La Traviata; a Gala Concert in Honor of Maria Callas; an original production of Swan Lake (1996); a new version of Giselle (1997); and a modern ballet to music by Schostakovich, Balda (1999.) 

Since retiring from the Bolshoi in 2000 Vladimir Vasiliev premiered in the ballet production Lungo Viaggio Nella Notte di Natale to Tchaikovsky’s music in Opera di Roma, and continues to choreograph and stage new ballets.  He is permanently invited to give master classes for the most prominent international dance companies, and serves as a member of the jury board of prestigious world ballet competitions.  He is the President of the Galina Ulanova Foundation, and has staged several ballet gala concerts in homage to Ms. Ulanova. 

Over the years Vasiliev has received many of the most prestigious Soviet, Russian and foreign prizes, orders and highest awards including the USSR State Prize, Russian State Prize, Russian State order “For Merits” and State Order “For Merits” of France, Lithuanian State Order, State Order of Brasil “Rio Branco”, UNESCO Pablo Picasso Medal and others. 

Vladimir Vasiliev, choreographer of Cinderella, is one of the ballet world’s most important leaders.  As a star of the Bolshoi Ballet and international soloist, he set the standard for extraordinary male dancing in the 20th century.  During his tenure as General Director of the Bolshoi Theatre he transformed the organization from an insular Soviet institution into one of the world’s leaders of international culture.  He is unparalleled as a choreographer, director, teacher, scholar, and leader in the world of ballet.