Yuri Zhukov is former principal dancer at the Marinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia and at the San Francisco Ballet. During a month-long stay as an invited artist at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet School in Carlisle, Yuri met with Dickinson students to discuss his impressive career, spanning several decades in both the Soviet Union and the United States.
“What I found most interesting were Yuri’s comments about stylistic differences between Russian and Western ballet, particularly, his comment about fellow Russian dancers not being able to (or wanting to) spend much time performing in America due to stylistic differences. I had never thought about how styles of dance might affect dancers. It was unexpected to hear that many dancers felt that way, and thus only spent a few years with foreign companies before heading back to Russia.” – Victoria Reid ’16
Marinsky Theatre (St. Petersburg Russia)
