The ballet world is mourning renowned Russian ballet dancer and onetime Ukraine war critic Vladimir Shklyarov after he fell 60 feet to his death from the fifth-story balcony of a St. Petersburg building.
Shklyarov was 39.
Russian authorities immediately ruled his death an accident, though an investigation was under way to confirm that, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.
He was due to undergo “complex spinal surgery” for a back injury on Monday and was taking “serious painkillers,” the head of the Mariinsky Theatre’s press service told Russian news agency Fontanka.
The theater issued a statement Saturday confirming the dancer’s death that day.
“This is a huge loss not only for the theatre’s staff, but for all of today’s ballet art,” the Mariinsky Theatre said in a statement. “Our condolences to the artist’s family, loved ones, friends and all the numerous admirers of his work and talent.”
He had two children with wife and fellow dancer Maria Shirinkina, whom he married in 2013.
Shklyarov performed worldwide, including with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, the Royal Opera House in London and The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. In addition, the artist danced with the American Ballet Theatre in 2014 and 2015, the company said in an Instagram tribute.
ABT sent condolences to “all who were touched by his brilliance,” concluding, “Rest in peace, Vladimir. Your light will continue to shine through the beauty you brought to this world.”
Shklyarov had started at Mariinsky in 2003, right out of the Academy of Russian Ballet, and rose to become one of its principal dancers in 2011, the theater said in a bio. He received a slew of accolades, capped by being crowned an Honored Artist of Russia in 2020, Mariinsky said, calling him “an expressive, absolutely inimitable actor and a virtuoso, academically impeccable dancer who can master all styles.”
In March 2022 the dancer spoke out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in an Instagram post that was later deleted, The Guardian reported. “It is impossible to watch everything that is happening today without tears,” Shklyarov wrote. After deleting the post, he did not comment on the war again, The Guardian said.
Fellow dancer Irina Baranovskaya called Shklyarov’s death “a stupid, unbearable accident” on the social media platform Telegram, saying that he had gone onto the went onto the “very narrow balcony” for a smoke and “lost his balance.”
