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Ballet dancer Sergey Polunin to play Romeo part first time in his career

The ballet will premier in the Arena di Verona Roman amphitheater on August 26

Sergey Polunin Vladimir Gerdo/TASS

Sergey Polunin

© Vladimir Gerdo/TASS

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/. Ballet dancer Sergey Polunin will debut as Romeo, the Romeo and Juliette ballet’s premier with Polunin will be held in Italy in August. The directors of the performance hope to bring it to Moscow, Polunin said in an interview with TASS.

"In Italy, Johan Kobborg and I will premier Romeo and Juliette in August. This will be the first classical production. I have never danced Romeo’s part and never thought I would. This will be the first time when we can actually afford to stage such a classical and big ballet, this is another step for us," Polunin said.

The ballet will premier in the Arena di Verona Roman amphitheater, accommodating up to 15,000 people, on August 26. "Yes, certainly [we will bring the ballet to Moscow]. We would need to find a big stage because Romeo and Juliette is a large-scale production," the dancer added.

Sergey Polunin’s biography

Polunin was born on November 20, 1989 in Kherson (Ukrainian SSR). At the age of 13, he moved to London where he studied at the British Royal Ballet School. From 2007 to 2012, Polunin was the Royal Ballet’s principal dancer.

In 2012, he became the principal dancer of the Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre and, at the same time, permanent guest principal dancer of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre. In 2016, he was invited for a position of the guest principal dancer at the Bayerisches Staatsballett in Munich.

In 2016, Stephen Cantor’s biopic about Sergey Polunin’s life and career was nominated for the Producers Guild of America Award in the best documentary category. In 2017, he also played a role in Murder on the Orient Express, as well as played a bit part in Red Sparrow (2018), starring Jennifer Lawrence.

In the end of 2018, Polunin received Russian citizenship.

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