Russian Ballet Star Vladimir Shklyarov Dies After Falling From 5th Floor Balcony
Vladimir Shklyarov, one of the world’s top male ballet dancers, died on Saturday after falling from the fifth floor of an apartment building balcony. An investigation is underway.
The Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg announced the death of 39-year-old Shklyarov, their highest-ranking dancer, on Saturday. Russian media have reported that federal authorities are investigating the theater.
St. Petersburg police said that the “preliminary cause” of his fall was an accident, according to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
Anna Kasatkina, a spokesperson for the Mariinsky Theatre, said that Vladimir Shklyarov had been taking painkillers for a back injury and was scheduled for spinal surgery on Monday.
Shklyarov received numerous accolades, including the Léonide Massine International Prize in 2008 and the title of Honored Artist of Russia in 2020. He also served as a guest principal with the Bavarian State Ballet in Munich and The Royal Ballet in London.
He was married to Maria Shklyarov, a fellow company dancer and first soloist at the Mariinsky. The couple had a son and a daughter.
The dance community is mourning the loss of Vladimir Shklyarov.
“He has forever inscribed his name in the history of world ballet,” the Mariinsky said in a statement on Monday.
The American Ballet Theatre, where Shklyarov performed as a guest artist in 2014 and 2015, described him as “an extraordinary artist whose grace and passion inspired audiences worldwide.”
Irina Bartnovskaya, a former dancer who runs the Telegram channel “The Devil in Ballet Shoes,” said that Shklyarov, on painkillers and resting at home before a planned surgery, stepped onto his narrow balcony for air and a smoke, lost his balance, and fell from the fifth floor.
She called it a “stupid, unbearable accident” and remembered him as someone who “loved life, his family, and adored his children and his audience.”
Diana Vishneva, a fellow principal dancer at the Mariinsky, said Shklyarov’s death is a “tragedy” for the ballet world.
“It is impossible to comprehenсe how early and unfair you passed away. This is the tragedy for our theatre, our common grief and feeling of emptiness,” she said.
Vladimir Shklyarov graduated from the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in 2003 under Vitaly Afanaskov, joined the Mariinsky Ballet the same year, and became a principal dancer in 2011.
His extensive repertoire included leading roles such as James in La Sylphide, Duke Albrecht in Giselle, Solor in La Bayadère, Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, the Prince in The Nutcracker, Jean de Brienne in Raymonda, Basilio in Don Quixote, and Ivan the Fool in The Little Humpbacked Horse. He also starred in works such as Paquita Grand Pas Classique, Le Spectre de la Rose, Chopiniana, and Jewels.
Vladimir Shklyarov was also against the Russia–Ukraine war. In a 2022 Facebook post, he was quoted by Alexei Ratmansky, a Russian Ukrainian former ballet dancer, as saying, “I am against the war in Ukraine! I am for the people, for a peaceful sky above our heads.”
