Vladimir Vasiliev (dancer) Vladimir Vasiliev (dancer) Vladimir Viktorovich Vasiliev (Russian: Влади́мир Ви́кторович Васи́льев), (born April 18, 1940) is a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer from Moscow, Russia. He was a principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet and its director from 1995 to 2000. He was best known for his role of Spartacus and his powerful leaps and turns. Vladimir Vasiliev was named "God of the dance" and is regarded as a classical dancer on the same level as Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. At the height of their careers, Vladimir Vasiliev and Ekaterina Maximova were the golden couple of Russian ballet. Vladimir Vasiliev
Paul Hammond (ballet dancer) Paul Hammond (ballet dancer) Paul Clement Hammond OAM (16 December 1922 – 10 September 2010) was an Australian ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer. Inspired as a teenager by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Hammond started dancing at the age of 17, studying ballet with Mischa Burlakov, Helene Kirsova and Leon Kellaway. From his early twenties, Hammond held numerous senior roles with premier Australian ballet companies. As Principal and Soloist with the Kirsova Ballet, Australia's first professional ballet company, Hammond danced the principal roles in various productions including "Les Sylphides", "Hansel & Gretel", "Swan Lake" and "Harlequin". He went on