The Colorado Ballet has added seven dancers to its roster for 2007-08, including a principal artist – Russian-born Alexei Tyukov.
“I think I have really raised the level of the company in these hires,” said Gil Boggs, the company’s artistic director. “They’re young, so they’re going to be a little bit inexperienced to a certain extent, but they’re already starting to grow into the roles.”
Tyukov graduated with honors in 1995 from the state ballet academy in Perm, Russia – a city of 1.2 million people in the Ural Mountains – and joined the Perm State Ballet Theatre.
More recently, he served as a principal dancer with the now-defunct Ballet Internationale in Indianapolis, and performed last year with the Cincinnati Ballet.
“He’s the prototype principal male dancer – tall, dark and handsome, and can do all the roles,” Boggs said. “And he is very good dancer, as well.”
The other roster additions:
Boggs also promoted company members Shunsuke Amma, Dana Benton and Sayaka Karasugi to soloists and made soloist Chandra Kuykendall a principal.
