The jury read out the results of the Russian Competition of Ballet Dancers and Choreographers in the nominated category Character and Folk Stage Dance. The winners of the competition held from April 7 to 11 in Yoshkar-Ola are the artists of the Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre Ksenia Lyapina and Ruslan Abolmasov.

Ruslan won the 2nd degree award, Ksenia won the one of the 3rd degree. Moreover, the first prize was not given out to the group of adult participants, so the Krasnoyarsk dancers can confidently be called the best among all the competitors. They were actively preparing guided by the tutor Ivan Karnaukhov for performing at the prestigious competition. Ruslan Abolmasov presented to the jury variations of a toreador from Don Quixote by Ludwig Minkus (choreographed by Honoured Artist of Russia Yuliana Malkhasyants) and Armen from Aram Khachaturian’s ballet Gayane. Ksenia Lyapina performed Oriental Dance (choreography by Vasily Vainonen edited by Honoured Artist of Russia Olga Akinfeeva) and Spanish dance from Swan Lake by Pyotr Tchaikovsky (choreographed by Yuliana Malkhasyants).

The Competition of Ballet Dancers and Choreographers has been held in Moscow since 1965. It discovered plenty of outstanding performers and directors. In the current format, the competition has been held since 2013. Its initiator is the legendary Soviet choreographer, People’s Artist of the USSR Yuri Grigorovich. The Competition is held in the regions of Russia in various choreographic specialties every fourth year and is supported by the Government of the Russian Federation, Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, and Roskontsert.

Krasnoyarsk artists have won this competition more than once. In 2021, for instance, Georgy Bolsunovsky won the first prize, Anastasia Nigmatulina and Matvey Nikishaev won the second one. Natalia Matus-Marchuk received the award in the category Best Choreography of Folk Dance; Demid Zykov was awarded a special prize for teachers “For the Successful Training of Competition Participants.”