Yuri Possokhov

Yuri Possokhov had a distinguished career as a principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, and the San Francisco Ballet. With these companies, he danced a wide range of classical and contemporary roles, including the lead role in the Bolshoi’s premiere of The Prodigal Son, the company’s first performance of a work by George Balanchine. In addition to dancing in the Bolshoi’s frequent international tours, Possokhov was often invited to perform as a guest artist in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, and performed in numerous galas worldwide. While still dancing, he honed his choreographic skills, creating several works for the San Francisco Ballet. 

One of his early ballets, Magrittomania, won an Isadora Duncan Dance Award for outstanding choreography. Upon his retirement, he joined the Artistic Staff at San Francisco Ballet as a Choreographer in Residence, where he continually choreographs new works for the company and dances principal character roles. His latest work is a two-act ballet of Onegin, a co-production of the San Francisco Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet, which premiered in January 2026. He has choreographed and staged one-act and full-length works for major companies worldwide, including the Bolshoi Ballet, the English National Ballet, the Australian Ballet, the State Ballet of Georgia, the Joffrey Ballet, the Atlanta Ballet, the Stanislavsky Theater Ballet, and the Hong Kong Ballet. He has won two Benois de la Danse International Award for Best Choreography, one for his ballet, Nureyev, a production of the Bolshoi, and one for his adaptation of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, a two-act co-production of the Joffrey Ballet and the Australian Ballet. In addition to staging classical ballets, he is known internationally as an innovative choreographer who creates dramatic works blending contemporary styles in the classical ballet canon.