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November 10, 1998

We had intended to pick Vladimir Malakhov as our Dancer of the Week last week, as he was scheduled to dance several performances with American Ballet Theatre at New York's City Center, but the sudden death of the late Christopher Gable changed that.

Vladimir Malakhov was born in Ukraine and began his training there at the age of four.  He studied at the Bolshoi Ballet school from the age of ten and joined the Moscow Classical Ballet as a principal dancer upon graduation, in 1986.

In Russia, he danced important roles in the classical repertory (Siegfried, Albrecht, Romeo) but also contemporary roles, such as Adam in Creation of the World and Kasyan Golezovsky's Narcissus.

Malakhov came of age after the Wall; Russians don't have to defect any more. He's danced with the Vienna State Opera Ballet since 1992 (and will stage his first production there this March:  the full length La Bayadere).  He's also danced as a guest artist with the National Ballet of Canada, is a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, and principal guest artist-in-residence with the Stuttgart Ballet. With these companies he has danced classical, romantic, lyric, contemporary and modern dance roles; has had several works created on him (especially in Vienna). The combined adventurous spirit, mutability of style, and intelligent, if not always picture perfect, classical dancing, is what makes him one of the most interesting of today's dancers.

Malakhov won the Grand Prize, junior level, at the International Ballet Competition, Varna in 1986; the Gold Prize, senior level, and the Serge Lifar Prize at the International Ballet Competition, Moscow, in 1989; and the Bronze Medal, senior level, Jackson, in 1990. He's danced all over the world (he's especially popular in Japan) and has also been the subject of three films:  Bravo Malakhov (1991), Narcise: The Dancer Malakhov (1993), and The True Prince (1996).  Yet somehow, he's not a superstar.  He's danced everywhere but on the cover of Newsweek and has avoided becoming a pop culture icon.  Which is one of the many reasons we admire him.

For an incisive profile of Vladimir Malakhov, see Robert Greskovic's piece in the archives of Stagebill.