About me
I was born in Russia, in 1966, in a very small city. I’m probably the only ballet dancer who ever came out of that place. I don’t remember how it happened, but thank God it did!
I was studying at the famous Perm academy and later was accepted to the Perm Ballet. My time at the Perm Ballet was amazing and I enjoyed all of the traditions, it was a very good start for a young dancer. My big journey began.
Let me tell you little bit about the most important part of this journey, the Kirov Ballet, also known as Mariinsky. It is difficult to describe the feeling when you are dancing principal roles with ballerinas like Asylmuratova, Chenchikova, Kunakova! During my first day in the studio in Kirov, I heard Ninel Kurgapkina say to other person, 'gosh, another dancer from the countryside, what are we going to do with him?' Instead of feeling despair I said to myself, she is going to be my teacher, and that is exactly what happened. She taught me and I learned. I stayed in her studio for six hours every day, I didn't want to go anywhere else, it was the place to be for me at that time. I was obsessed with perfection, I was working on it constantly. She helped me!
Once I rehearsed with her in San Francisco and Nureyev came to visit, he saw my potential. After a month I went everywhere with him and was trying to understand
how he did this, how he had become Nureyev. I guess I've got it, the power of life, the desire to comprehend it all. He wanted me to go with him and I got a contract for
The Nutcracker in La Scale, but it was not meant to be. I was too young and too Russian to leave the Kirov, so I stayed. Eventually I left Russia. I danced in Amsterdam for ten good solid years.
The empty feeling I felt when I stopped dancing was quickly replaced by photography.
It came from nowhere, but it came. I was taught photography at the Amsterdam Photo Academy. And when taking my first ballet pictures, my future became clear to me, I knew immediately what I was going to look for: I was going to look for perfection again. I would like to show that Ballet is not just one of the Arts, this is the main Art. I would like to show the moments of perfection hardly anyone can achieve, only ballet dancers can! I have a strong desire to show people the heart and soul of theatre! I want people to love it and
I want them to go and see it for themselves.