MaggioDanza > Director

Vladimir Derevianko

Vladimir Derevianko trained as a dancer at the Bolshoi School of Ballet in Moscow. In 1977 he joined the Bolshoi Ballet Company; there, his extraordinary talents soon took him to the position of premier danseur, in which he performed most of the major roles in the classical ballet repertoire – particularly unforgettable was his legendary performance of Mercuzio in Grogorovitch’s Romeo e Giulietta. In 1978, at just 19,  Derevianko came to the attention of critics the world over at the Varna International Competition by winning both the Gold Medal and the Grand Prix, the latter being a special prize which has been awarded to very few other dancers, including Vassiliev, Baryshnikov, Dupond and Guillem. In 1983 he moved to Europe, and since then has been invited to dance in the most famous theatres by the most prestigious dance companies the world over. It is the finesse of his technique and his incredible suppleness which have placed him among the greats of dancing, but the signature feature of Derevianko is his extraordinary artistic personality. His talent for interpreting roles which are diametrically opposed to each other (from the most dramatic to the most comic) has inspired numerous leading choreographers to create roles especially for him. Fundamental to his training as a multi-faceted, versatile artist was his artistic teamwork with Yuri Grigorovitch and Vladimir Vassiliev at the Bolshoi in Moscow, and later with Uwe Scholz and John Neumeier in the west. He has performed with some of the greatest étoiles in the world, including Carla Fracci, Elisabeth Maurin, Elisabetta Terabust, Luciana Savignano, Alessandra Ferri, Eva Evdokimova, Evelyne Hart and Viviana Durante, and he formed a particularly important, long-lasting, prestigious partnership with Noella Pontois. From 1993 to July 2006 he was Artistic Director and premier danseur of the Ballet Company of the Sachsische Staatsoper Semperoper in Dresden, which under his direction took on the name of Ballett Dresden. The Dresden Semperoper Ballet is today considered one of the most important companies in Europe, and this is undoubtedly thanks to the vision and direction of Vladimir Derevianko. In the 2007-2008 Season, Vladimir Derevianko was appointed Director and Resident Coreographer of MaggioDanza, the dance company of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Throughout his multi-faceted career Derevianko has also reaped considerable success as a choreographer: in 2000 he choreographed his own version of Giselle for the Semperoper in Dresden, which was later also performed in Osaka in Japan; during the 2004-2005 Season, again for the Semperoper in Dresden, he choreographed his own highly-original version of Don Quixote, and in2006 he reconstructed and reinterpreted the choreography of Chopiniana, even coming up with the original idea for the costumes and the set design.
www.vladimirderevianko.com