Vladimir Shklyarov soared. He was the Prince in 'Swan Lake," Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet," and the Duke in "Giselle," as principal dancer of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.
He was lyrically lean and expressive in every muscle, and leapt into the memories of audiences when he performed on great stages all over the world.
Shklyarov was 39 years old when he died last Saturday. He was married to a fellow dancer in his company, Maria Shirinkina, and had two children. They performed together when their company toured the United States in 2016, and Roslyn Sulcas of the New York Times wrote that when they danced in an extract of "Giselle," "they suggested another world."
A Russian state-run news agency says Shklyarov fell to his death from a balcony on the 5th floor of a building in St. Petersburg. They report that he was taking painkillers for a back injury.
"(A) stupid, unbearable accident," a friend and fellow dancer, Irina Baranovskaya, called his death on Telegram, saying he "went out to the balcony to get some air and smoke" and "lost his balance."
Another Mariinsky dancer, Diana Vishneva, wrote, "You were the favourite partner … My beautiful Romeo, my brave Prince in Cinderella."
There is reportedly an official investigation into Shklyarov's death. But it is also hard not to see his demise alongside the dozens of occasions in recent years when people who have questioned the Putin regime have reportedly fallen out of windows. Pavel Antov, the politician; Ravil Maganov, the oil magnate; Valentina Bondarenko, the economist; Grigory Kochenov, the IT chief; and more — quite a few more.
Journalists have coined a phrase: Sudden Russian Death Syndrome.
Russia is a nation so accomplished it launches missions toward the stars, but seems to have a lot of windows that give way. They say that Shklyarov, who was famously agile when he performed Prokofiev's ballets, couldn't keep his balance while smoking on a balcony.
Shklyarov received the Honored Artist of Russia title in 2020. But he wrote a Facebook post in 2022 in which he declared, "Friends! I am against the war in Ukraine! I am for the people, for a peaceful sky above our heads … I want to dance … I want to love everyone — that is the purpose of my life … I do not want wars or borders."
In life, as on the stage, Shklyarov soared.
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