Rudolf Kharatyan
Rudolf Kharatyan (Armenian: Ռուդոլֆ Խառատյան, born April 1, 1947, in Yerevan) is an Armenian ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher, director and painter. He is a People's Artist of Armenia (2012). He is the Principal Choreographer and Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Armenia at the Spendiaryan National Opera and Ballet Theatre.[1]
Biography
In 1966 he graduated from the Yerevan College of Choreography (Maxim Martirosyan's studio).[2] He holds a Master's Degree in Choreography and Stage Production from the Moscow Theater Art Institute. He is a graduate of the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg where he studied with the legendary teacher Pushkin alongside classmate Mikhail Baryshnikov. From 1967 to 1990 he has been a principal dancer of the Armenian National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet. From 1979 to 1991 he headed the art department of the Chamber Ballet of Armenia. Kharatyan headed the dance department of the Yerevan School of the Arts from 1973 to 1979.[3] He toured the world with the Bolshoi Ballet and Stars of the Russian Ballet. Since 1999 he is the founding Artistic director of the "ARKA" Ballet (ARKA is the Armenian word for "king") in Washington, DC. The company debuted in April 1999 at the Kennedy Center.
From 1991 to 1994 he taught at the Kirov Academy of Ballet and from 1994 to 2007 he was the chief instructor of classical dance at the Washington Ballet School.
Kharatyan is also a painter. He had individual exhibitions in the United States and Canada.
Selected roles
- Spartacus, Aram Khachaturian's "Spartacus"
- Romeo, Sergey Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet"
- Homeless, Edgar Hovhannisyan's "Eternal Idol"
- Siegfried, Pyotr Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake"