Vladimir Malakhov

Vladimir Malakhov (born 7 January 1968, Kryvyi Rih, Soviet Ukraine) is a Ukrainian ballet dancer who was the artistic director of the Staatsballett Berlin (Berlin State Ballet) from its founding in 2004 until 2014. He is a former principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and Vienna State Opera Ballet. Malakhov began his dance training at the age of four at a small ballet school in his hometown and remained there until continuing his training at the school of the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow. From age ten on, he was under the tutelage of Peter Pestov and upon graduation from Moscow State Academy of Choreography in 1986 joined the Moscow Classical Ballet as that company's youngest principal dancer. In 1992, Malakhov joined the Vienna State Opera Ballet as a principal artist, and then the National Ballet of Canada in 1994. In the spring of 1995 he had his debut with the American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. Since that time, he has remained a principa...