Valery Panov

Valery Panov ( Валерий Панов [ Шульман ]; born March 12, 1938 in Vitebsk, Belarus, USSR ) is a retired Russian Jewish ballet dancer and choreographer is today. Since the 1970s, he is an Israeli citizen. Panov's original name was Schulman.

Panov studied at the Academy of Agrippina Vaganova in St. Petersburg (now Russian Academy of Ballet ). After a first engagement at the Leningrad Maly Theatre of Opera, he was a soloist in 1960 at the Kirov Theater (now Mariinsky Theatre), where he played about 60 roles, and one of the main dancers for the development of the Russian Ballets of his time.

As he often met with foreigners, the KGB was aware of him. Participation in foreign tours became rarer approved and ultimately banned.

He had by his first wife a son. Together with his second wife, the ballerina Galina Panova, a non - Jew, he then presented after two failed escape attempts in March 1972 for an exit visa to Israel. He and his wife were then exposed to severe psychological pressure. From the Leningrad Kirov Ballet, he was released. The attention that he enjoyed in the Western world, however, could prevent he and his wife were deported to a labor camp.

Valery Panov finally managed in 1974 to emigrate to Israel. For a continuation of his dance career but he was now too old.

He began a career as a choreographer, among others, with numerous productions in Germany, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, but also in other major European cities of classical ballet such as Vienna, Stockholm and Antwerp.

From 1992 to 1997 Panov was artistic director of the Ballet of the Opera of Bonn. In 1993 he founded in Ashdod, Israel, the Art Centre, a ballet troupe with attached Ballet Academy. Valery Panov is an honorary citizen of New York City and San Francisco.