Background
Panov, Valerii was born on March 12, 1938 in Vitebsk.
Panov, Valerii was born on March 12, 1938 in Vitebsk.
In 1957, graduated from the Leningrad Choreographic School. A dancer at the Malyi Theatre. A soloist dancer at the Leningrad Kirov Ballet Theatre, 1963-1972.
Star in many productions including Petrushka, Baryshnia i Khuligan and Hamlet. Lost his job, as did his ballet-dancer wife Galina, after they had applied for exit visas to Israel in 1972, Placed under house
arrest. His hunger strike and other actions attracted world attention to his case.
Eventually, in 1974, was allowed to emigrate. Citizen of Israel. Has danced all over the world. Choreographer in Berlin and Holland and with other ballet companies.
In collaboration with G. Feifer, wrote his memoirs, To Dance, 1978. In 1985, took over the Royal Ballet of Flanders in Antwerp. Ballet productions based on Russian literary sources: The Idiot, War and Peace and Three Sisters.
Re-staged Le Sacre du Printemps using a score first found in the Deutsche Oper.