Vladimir Vasiliev

Legendary 20th-century dancer, Vladimir Vasiliev is a choreographer, director, teacher, and holder of the highest state awards of the USSR and the Russian Federation, France, Lithuania, Brazil, Italy, Cuba, Argentina, the United States of America, and UNESCO.

For thirty years he was principal dancer of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. A virtuoso performer with an immense repertoire and a rare artistic gift, called the “God of Dance” by critics and numerous fans, Vladimir Vasiliev contributed enormously to the development of 20th-century male classical dance, creating innovative models that have trained new generations of artists.

He attracted the attention of the greatest choreographers of the 20th century, including Yury Grigorovich, Kasyan Goleyzovsky, Maurice Béjart, and Roland Petit. He danced with the world's greatest ballerinas, from Galina Ulanova to Maya Plisetskaya, from Alicia Alonso to Carla Fracci.

But the duo with Ekaterina Maximova remains to this day the finest example of partnership on stage and in life, recognized as the best duo in the world by the Paris Dance Academy, which also awarded Vasiliev the title of Best Dancer in the World; there is no dance award he has not won.

He performed on the world's most prestigious stages: New York, London, Tokyo, Paris, Berlin, Milan, Rome, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires.

Since 1971 he has also worked as a choreographer and director. Among the twenty productions he created are: Icarus, Macbeth, Anyuta, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, Cinderella, The Nutcracker, Balda, The Red Poppy, the opera La Traviata for the Bolshoi, Mozart, Mozart! for the Novaya Opera Theatre and, recently, a production of Dona Nobis Pacem to music from Bach's Mass in B minor at the Tatar Opera House and the Bolshoi. He also created choreographies for operas: the most famous being for Zeffirelli's Aida, performed at the Arena di Verona.
He composed choreographies for stage and film actors, shot several movies and ballets for television; for ten years he headed the choreography department at the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts (GITIS).

From 1995 to 2000 he was Artistic Director of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. In 2000 he founded in Brazil the only foreign school of the Bolshoi Theatre, of which he is the curator; he is Artistic Director and Jury President of “Arabesque”, a competition dedicated to Ekaterina Maximova; he is President of the Galina Ulanova Foundation.

A man of art, Vasiliev is also a dramatic actor, poet and painter, with hundreds of paintings bearing his signature. Over the last decade, his dedication to painting has led him to exhibit his works in Russia and abroad. In recent years he has also designed the sets for his ballets, including The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Giselle, Macbeth and The Red Poppy.

At the Arena di Verona he made his debut in 1980 in the show International Ballet Stars Parade; in 1988 he returned for Mikis Theodorakis's Zorba the Greek, also staged in 1990; in 2002 he choreographed Aida, also staged from 2003 to 2006, in 2010, 2018, 2022 and for the 103° Opera Festival 2026.

Biography updated to July 2026