Last night it was a special performance dedicated to the legendary Bolshoi dancer and coach Yuri Vladimirov.

He was the first performer to play the title role in Grigorovich's "Ivan the Terrible" in 1975. The ballet was revived in 2012 after a 22-year absence from repertoire. This production, celebrating an inhuman tyrant, was made not for political reasons but for Yuri Vladimirov's protégé Ivan Vasiliev who performed yesterday. Artem Ovcharenko opposed him as Prince Kurbsky.


Photo © Ekaterina Vladimirova — Artem Ovcharenko as Kurbsky, The Bolshoi — February 25, 2017