Igor Kolb
Igor Kolb was born June 6, 1977 in Pinsk (Belorussia) and trained at the Belorussia State Ballet School in Minsk with
Vera Shveitsova, Jansen and Alexander Kolidenko. Even before graduation Kolb already started dancing with the Minsk Ballet.
Under the guidance of Kolidenko he prepared for the Vaganova Prix, the annual international competition in St. Petersburg
for young dancers. When he took third prize in 1996, he decided to stay
and work in St. Petersburg. He auditioned several times, unsuccessfully, for the Mariinsky Theatre, yet it
was only after his graduation in 1996 from the Belorussia State Ballet School that he was able to join the Kirov Ballet.
At the Mariinsky Igor Kolb started working with Yuri Fateyev who proved not only a
welcome support for the young and isolated dancer during his first and difficult years in St. Petersburg,
but also was able to polish Kolb's rather provincial training to the level of the Mariinsky. However, by
a management's decision he was later transferred to work with the reputed Gennadi Selyutski, who remains to this
day his coach.
Kolb soon became one of the company's most prominent male dancers, appearing as the frequent partner of the Mariinsky's
leading ladies Zhanna Ayupova, Diana Vishneva,
Svetlana Zakharova, Daria Pavlenko and Sofia Gumerova.
In June 1997 he made his debut as Prince Désiré for Vishneva's Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty.
In October of that same year Kolb danced with Svetlana Ivanova in the Sleeping Beauty performance especially dedicated to
the legendary ballerina Mathilde Kshessinskaya. In May 2000 Kolb danced his first Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake.
By his splendid mastery of the classical dance, his elegant, virile manners,
and his introspective nature Igor Kolb became one of the Mariinsky's most acclaimed
performers of the lyrical-romantic repertoire, excelling as the poet in
Chopiniana, Albrecht in Giselle or the Prince in the traditional Vainonen Nutcracker.
Recently he was also cast in the bravura role of the exotic slave Ali in Le Corsaire, a role which suits
him less well by temperament and emotion. In May 2002 Kolb was selected to dance Solor at the premiere of
Sergei Vikharev's reconstruction of Petipa's La Bayadère, partnering Daria Pavlenko and Elvira Tarassova.
In the beginning of 2003 he was promoted to principal dancer.
On 22 February 2002 Igor Kolb made his debut with the Rome Opera Ballet, dancing Prince Siegfried with Svetlana Zakharova
in Paul Chalmer's version of The Sleeping Beauty. In 2006, Igor Kolb debuted at the Wiener Staatsoper
in Rudolf Nureyev's Swan Lake.
Marc Haegeman
His repertoire includes:
- pas de trois in Swan Lake (Petipa-Ivanov, staged by K. Sergeyev)
- Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty (Petipa, staged by K. Sergeyev) (1997)
- soloist (cr.) in Les Noces (Miroshnichenko) (1997)
- the Poet in Chopiniana (Fokine) (1997)
- troubadour in Romeo and Juliet (Lavrovsky) (1997)
- Albrecht in Giselle (Coralli/Perrot, Petipa)
- the Prince in The Nutcracker (Vainonen)
- soloist in 1st movement of Symphony in C (Balanchine) (1998)
- soloist in Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux (Balanchine)
- soloist in Paquita Grand Pas (Petipa)
- Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty (Petipa, staged by Vikharev) (1999)
- Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake (Petipa-Ivanov, staged by K. Sergeyev) (2000)
- Ali in Le Corsaire (Gusev after Petipa) (2001)
- soloist in Le spectre de la rose (Fokine)
- Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty (Chalmer after Petipa) (Rome Opera Ballet, 2002)
- Solor in La Bayadère (Petipa, staged by Ponomarev, Chabukiani) (2002)
- Solor in La Bayadère (Petipa, staged by Vikharev) (2002)
- Ferkhad in The Legend of Love (Grigorovich)
- soloist in Diamonds from Jewels (Balanchine)
- soloist in Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #2 (Balanchine)
- soloist in In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated (Forsythe)
- soloist in Steptext (Forsythe)
- soloist in In the Night (Robbins)
- The Prince in Cinderella (Ratmansky)
- soloist in Leningrad Symphony (Belsky)
Official website of Igor Kolb
Copyright © 2003-2007
Text and photos of Igor Kolb Copyright © 2003-2007 Marc Haegeman. All rights reserved.