He was born in Kazan, USSR (now Tatarstan, Russia). He studied at the Bolshoi Theater Ballet Academy in Moscow (1970-8) under Alexander Prokofiev. He began his career as the principal dancer of Moscow’s Classical Ballet Group (1978) and participated in many of its world tours. In 1981 he won the Grand Prize and the Gold Medal at Moscow’s International Ballet Competition and was hired as principal dancer at the Bolshoi Ballet. He was main dancer at the Royal Ballet of London, where he performed lead roles from the classical and modern English repertoire (1990-2004). At the same time, he performed as principal dancer at prominent operas, such as the Paris Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the National Opera of Bordeaux, La Scala in Milan, as well as at the Ballets of Scotland, Helsinki, Wiesbaden, Warsaw and Santiago, the Royal Ballets of Flanders and Birmingham, and the National Ballets of England and Australia. He has danced choreographies by Yuri Grigorovich, Kenneth MacMillan, Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Roland Petit, Rudolf Nureyev, David Bintley, Ashley Page, William Tackett and others. He has choreographed the works: The Swan Lake, The Four Horsemen, The King and the Beggar, Spanish Capriccio, Spartacus, A Midsummer Night's Dream, etc. He received the title of Meritorious Artist of the Russian Republic (1985), the “Hans Christian Andersen Award” for Best Dancer in the World (1988), the “Gino Tani” Award (1992), the Nizhinsky Medal (1998) and others. In 2000 he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire. He was artistic director of the GNO’s Ballet (2007-10) and choreographed Giselle (2007/8), Eugene Onegin (2008/9, 2009/10) and the ballet section in Aida (2008/9, Odeon of Herodes Atticus).