Sergei Polunin
Russian ballet dancer, youngest Royal Ballet principal, later controversial figure.
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via Wikipedia: Sergei Polunin · see source
Sergei Vladimirovich Polunin was born in Kherson, then part of the Ukrainian SSR, on 20 November 1989. He holds Russian and Serbian passports and has stated he “always regarded himself as Russian”; his Ukrainian citizenship was revoked in 2025. Polunin began training in gymnastics at age four, then switched to ballet at eight, studying at the Kyiv State Choreographic College.
2003–2013: Early years
At 13, in 2003, he entered the British Royal Ballet School with support from the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation. He won the Prix de Lausanne and Youth America Grand Prix in 2006, and in 2007 was named Young British Dancer of the Year. By 2009 he was a first soloist at the Royal Ballet, and in June 2010, at age 20, he became the company’s youngest ever male principal dancer.
He resigned abruptly in January 2012, saying the artist in him “was dying.” Later that year, Igor Zelensky invited him to Russia, where he became a principal at the Stanislavsky Music Theatre and Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. In early 2013 he walked out on a Schaufuss Ballet production days before opening night. Polunin gained wider fame through a 2015 dance video for Hozier’s “Take Me to Church,” directed by David LaChapelle, and was the subject of the 2016 documentary Dancer. He founded Project Polunin in 2017 (renamed Polunin Ink in 2018) to create new dance works for stage and film.
2014–present: International recognition
In 2019, the Paris Opéra Ballet revoked an invitation for him to perform in Swan Lake after homophobic and sexist Instagram posts caused outrage. That same year, his company premiered Rasputin in London, Romeo and Juliet in Verona, and Little Red and the Wolf in Moscow. Polunin has also worked as an actor and model, and has guested at venues including the Royal Opera House, Bolshoi Theatre, La Scala, and Teatro San Carlo.
Lore & Background
Sergei Polunin was born in Kherson, Ukrainian SSR. From age four to eight, he trained at a gymnastics academy, then spent four years at the Kyiv State Choreographic Institute. His mother Galina moved with him to Kyiv while his father Vladimir worked in Portugal to support them. After graduating from the Kyiv Choreographic Academy, he joined the British Royal Ballet School at age 13 in 2003, sponsored by the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation.
He won the Prix de Lausanne and Youth America Grand Prix in 2006, was named Young British Dancer of the Year in 2007, and became a first soloist at the Royal Ballet in 2009. In June 2010, at age 20, he became the Royal Ballet's youngest ever male principal. The New York Times described him as "a fabulous dancer, with a steely technique and beautiful line" in its review of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (2011). On 24 January 2012, Polunin announced his resignation from the Royal Ballet with immediate effect, saying he had become so unhappy that "the artist in [him] was dying." In summer 2012, he was invited to Russia by Igor Zelensky and became a principal dancer with the Stanislavsky Music Theatre and Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre.
In early April 2013, he walked out on the Schaufuss Ballet's performance of Midnight Express just days before its opening night. He was first shown in the international spotlight in the role of Slavemaster/Shepherd in the 25th Anniversary The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall. In 2014, he started collaborating with David LaChapelle, and a dance video to "Take Me to Church" by Hozier in February 2015 went viral. He was the subject of the 2016 documentary film Dancer.
In 2017, he set up Project Polunin, reincorporated as Polunin Ink in 2018. In January 2019, the Paris Opéra Ballet revoked an invitation for him to perform in Swan Lake after homophobic and sexist Instagram posts sparked international outrage. Polunin fully supported the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and was invited to speak and perform at government-organized ceremonies. He performed in full military uniform to a song dedicated to fallen Russian soldiers while on tour in Uzbekistan, which Uzbek authorities said deviated from the planned programme.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Sergei Polunin (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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