by Acclaimed Russian ballet dancer Vladimir Shklyarov has died aged 39.
Shklyarov died on Saturday after falling from the fifth floor of a building, a spokesman for the Mariinsky Theater told the Fontanka news agency over the weekend.
Spokeswoman Anna Kasatkina told Russian media that Shklyarov had been taking painkillers for a back injury and was scheduled for spinal surgery on Monday.
While a federal investigation was launched to investigate the dancer’s death, the “preliminary cause” was determined to be an accident, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.
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Born in St. Petersburg in 1985, Shklyarov joined the Mariinsky Theater in 2003 and became its principal dancer – the highest position in a ballet company – in 2011.
The company called Shklyarov’s death “a great loss.”
“Our condolences go out to the artist’s family, his loved ones, friends and all the many admirers of his work and talent…he has etched his name forever in the history of world ballet,” it said.
During his 20-year career, Shklyarov starred in productions of Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote and Alice in Wonderland by Christopher Wheeldon. He has performed around the world, including at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and the Royal Opera House in London.
In 2013, he married a fellow Mariinsky Theater dancer, Maria Shirinkina, with whom he had two children.
Russian dancers paid tribute to Shklyarov after the news broke. Irina Baranovskaya called his death “a stupid, unbearable accident” on Telegram.
Baranovskaya said Shklyarov “went out to the balcony to get some air and smoke” and “lost his balance” on the “very narrow balcony.”
A Mariinsky dancer, Diana Vishneva, wrote: “This tragedy brings only tears and sadness… This is the tragedy for our theater, our common grief, the feeling of emptiness.”
“You were the favorite partner… My beautiful Romeo, my brave prince in Cinderella.”
The American Ballet Theater, where Shklyarov guest starred in 2014 and 2015, remembered him on Instagram as “an extraordinary artist whose grace and passion inspired audiences worldwide.”
“Rest in peace, Vladimir. “Your light will continue to shine through the beauty you have brought to this world,” the post concluded.
