Pavel Glukhov

"…I myself danced traditional forms as a child — the Kursk Timonya and the Ryazan Zmeyka — and later studied regional Russian folk dance during my training; this material lives within me. In dance, it must grow into a concrete divertissement structure.

At the same time, Stravinsky’s complex and unusual rhythms, along with a certain angularity of movement, discoordination, perhaps even irrationality present in my dance language, come together organically. I don’t need to invent this connection — it forms by itself."

"The choir takes an active role in my production. It does not merely reproduce the musical material, but becomes a character in the performance. Through the choir, we reveal the folkloric layer of the work, the behavior of people within the ritual. Here, the choir represents the parental, adult part of society — a kind of council of elders. The dancers, in turn, embody the youth, those whose lives are now being shaped, arranged, and constructed as something supposedly predetermined and clear."

Pavel Glukhov graduated the Department of Choreography at the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS), where he studied in the workshop of People’s Artist of the USSR Mikhail Lavrovsky. From 2009 to 2014, he performed as a dancer with the Moscow-based companies Ballet Moscow and New Ballet, and took part in the international Israeli-Russian project Recall/Action. In 2017, he appeared as a guest artist with the dance ensemble in a production of The Snow Maiden at the Bolshoi Theatre.

As a choreographer, Glukhov works across a wide range of genres and formats — from intimate, laboratory-scale pieces to large productions for major theatres. He staged for the Boris Eifman Dance Company, Voronezh Opera and Ballet Theatre, Chelyabinsk Contemporary Dance Theatre, Karelian Musical Theatre, among others. His key productions include Mirror, The Raft of the Medusa, and Arrrr (Voronezh Chamber Theatre). In 2021, Glukhov participated in the Body in the Leading Role laboratory within the framework of the DanceInversion Contemporary Dance Festival.

Glukhov’s choreographic language is rooted in a deep attention to music and its structure. His works frequently show contrast: sharp, fragmented dynamics coexist with fluid, almost sculptural lines; rhythm alternates with pause, shaping a tense and charged dramaturgical space. In Les Noces for Ballet Moscow, this musical sensitivity becomes the foundation of the entire production — the choreography grows directly out of Stravinsky’s score, folk melodies, and ritual rhythms, transforming the stage into a site of powerful collective experience.