Vladislav Kuramshin

Education and early career

Vladislav Kuramshin was born in 1964. In 1983 he graduated from the Leningrad Academic Choreographic School named after A. Vaganova (now the Vaganova Russian Ballet Academy). His teachers were Anatoly Nisnevich, a student of the great dancer and teacher F. Balabina (art director of the school 1962–1972, a student of A. Vaganova), and Murat Kumysnikov. He was accepted into the Kirov State Academic Ballet Theatre company (Mariinsky Theatre).

Eifman’s theatre, 1984–1986

From 1984 to 1986 he was a soloist of the “Contemporary Ballet Theatre” (Boris Eifman’s Academic Ballet Theatre), where he danced solo and leading roles:

• Duke Orsini in “Twelfth Night”
• soloist in “Interrupted Song”
• Ivan Tsarevich in “The Firebird”
• the first performer of Lieutenant Nikolaev in “Lieutenant Romashov” (“The Duel”)

A. Makarov’s Academic Theatre of Ballet, 1986–1997

From 1986 to 1997 he was a soloist of A. Makarov’s Academic Theatre of Ballet. Solo and leading roles:

1986

“Eternal Idol” (Jacobson miniature)

1987

Dancer in the ballet “The Bug”

1987

Spartacus in the ballet “Spartacus”

1987

Soloist in “Sextet” (Jacobson miniature)

1988

Pas de deux to music by Honegger (Jacobson choreography)

1988

Soloist in the ballet “The Night of Enlightenment”

1989

A duet to music by Bach

1989

Duke of Buckingham in “The Three Musketeers”

1989

“Tango” in the ballet “Exercise-XX”

1990

Paolo in the ballet “Frances”

1991

Max in “Scheherazade”

1992

Executioner in “Scheherazade”

1992

Duke in “Giselle”

1993

Spanish dance in “Swan Lake”

1993

Rothbart in “Swan Lake”

1994

Poet in “Les Sylphides”

1994

Soloist in “A brilliant divertissement” (Jacobson miniature)

1995

Batyr in Jacobson’s “Shuraleh”

1995

The pas de deux from “Sleeping Beauty”

1995

Prince Siegfried in “Swan Lake”

In 1994, as head of the troupe, he represented the theatre at the International Festival “Art without Borders” in Yalta. As a soloist of the theatre he continued to work with the Kirov Ballet (Mariinsky Theatre) and toured Spain with it in 1992.

Other companies, 1993–1995

From 1993 to 1994 he was director and soloist of the classical ballet “Fouettés”, including soloist in the ballet “Tango” and in the miniature “Dancing for the Queen”. From 1993 to 1995 he was also a soloist of two other companies: the theatre “The Little Ballet of St Petersburg” (solo roles in the ballet “The Three Dreams”) and the Ballet Theatre “Chapel of St Petersburg” (a duet to music by Marcello, soloist in a miniature to music by Ibert and in the miniatures “Pro and Contra” and “St George’s Memory”).

Teacher and jury member

Since 1994 he has been founder and director of the “Ballet and Theatre School named after Jacobson” (now the Vladislav Kuramshin Russian Ballet Academy). Since 2005 he has been artistic director of the Ballet Theatre “Choreographic Miniatures”. He has repeatedly been a jury member at international competitions and festivals of ballet dancers in Italy, Latvia and Cyprus. In 2003–2004 he worked as a visiting teacher at the National Theatre of Croatia in Split. Twice he gave intensive workshops in Ecuador (Guayaquil) and staged a children’s ballet there, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”.

Ballets created with Tatiana Petrova

Together with Tatiana Petrova, Vladislav Kuramshin created eight ballet productions for children and adults for the school and the theatre:

• “Swan Lake”
• “The Nutcracker”
• “The Snow Queen”
• “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”
• “Crazy Dolls, or The New Tin Soldier”
• “The Three Little Pigs”
• the Grand Pas from “Paquita”
• the song ballet (musical) “Small Café”, a joint project with the Art Song Theatre

Together they also created a number of original miniatures:

• “Tarantella”
• “The Ugly Duckling”
• “I’m a Ballerina”
• the Clown’s variation, often performed at the International Ballet Competition: it earned Yulia Mikhailova first prize at YAGP (Youth America Grand Prix) and Xenia Zhiganshina third prize at the Moscow International Competition
• “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”: third prize at YAGP-2010

Students and awards

Among his current and former students are winners of many international and Russian ballet competitions: A. and M. Lusina, M. Andreeva, P. Mitryashina, K. Zhiganshina, N. Vronskykh, R. Strokina, V. Bogdanov, Y. Mikhailova, L. Sartakova, V. Fedorova, M. Bulanova and others. For preparing Yulia Mikhailova, Grand Prix winner of the International Ballet Competition “Rigas pavasaris 2010” (Spring Riga, Latvia), and for creating new, original dance miniatures, he was awarded the diploma “For the contribution to the world of choreography”.

In the Netherlands

Since 2014 he has been founder and director, choreographer and lead teacher of the Dutch branch of the Vladislav Kuramshin Russian Ballet Academy in The Hague. Together with Tatiana Petrova he staged four ballets for children and adults there in the 2014–2015 season: “The Nutcracker”, “The Snow Queen”, “Snow White” and “Swan Lake”.