Artur Shesterikov

Immediately after a touring performance of Swan Lake in 2012, artistic director Ted Brandsen promoted Artur Shesterikov to principal dancer with Dutch National Ballet.

Artur trained in his hometown Perm at the State Ballet School, one of the top three ballet schools in Russia. He began his professional career with the Tchaikovsky Perm State Opera and Ballet Theatre and joined Dutch National Ballet in 2007. Artur started out in the corps de ballet, but was rapidly promoted to coryphée, and to soloist in 2010. In 2012, he became a principal. Besides dancing most of the classical ballets, he has performed in works by choreographers like George Balanchine, William Forsythe and John Neumeier. He has also worked personally with choreographers like Hans van Manen, Natalia Makarova, Benjamin Millepied, Krzysztof Pastor, Alexei Ratmansky, Christopher Wheeldon and Sir Peter Wright. As a guest dancer, Artur has performed with several foreign companies and at various international ballet galas.

At Dutch National Ballet’s Gala in 2016, he received the Alexandra Radius Prize, which was presented to him by former ballerina Alexandra Radius. In 2017, 2019 and 2020, he received mentions in the category ‘Outstanding performance by a male dancer’ in the Critics’ Choice section of Dance Europe magazine.

At the end of the 2022/2023 season, after dancing with Dutch National Ballet for sixteen years, Artur officially takes his leave of the dance stage.