Vsevolod Maievskyi
Why did he start ballroom dancing at the age of five? “Maybe by accident”, says soloist Vsevolod Maievskyi. “I remember walking down the street with my parents and younger sister and coming across a ballroom studio by chance. My parents had a word with the teachers and suddenly it was, ‘Why don’t you two give it a go?’ The initiative clearly came from my mother. She didn’t want us making too much mess at home and we had to get rid of our energy somewhere as kids.”
In the years that followed, Vsevolod and his sister Sofi became a successful youth dance couple, scooping up prizes in competitions at home and abroad. “Ballroom is still in my blood”, he says. “It’s taught me to feel each individual position, to make genuine contact with my partner and to endlessly vary the way you perform movements.”
Strategy
When Vsevolod was eleven, the ballroom coaches insisted that he and his sister got extra dance training. Once again, his mother – who trained as a concert pianist herself – took the lead. She enrolled both children at the ballet academy in Kyiv, as she believed ballet was the best method for physical development. “I think it was a preconceived plan”, says Vsevolod, “because the combination of ballet and ballroom turned out to be impossible, as they both demand your total attention and dedication.” Sofi chose ballet of her own accord, but the choice was more difficult for Vsevolod. “My parents had just got divorced and my ballroom coach helped me enormously during that period. He was like a friend to me.” It was only after three ‘boring years at the barre’, when he also got his own coach at the ballet academy and started taking part in competitions, that Vsevolod’s love of the ballet profession really took hold.
Mariinsky Ballet
On graduating, he was invited to audition for the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow. But he felt the lure of the American dream – “I was obsessed by Hollywood and life in the Big Apple” – so after participating in a Youth America Grand Prix preliminary he accepted a scholarship with Ellison Ballet, in New York. One year later, Russia came into the picture anyway. Vsevolod got to the finals of the Youth America Grand Prix and received several offers – including one from Dutch National Ballet’s Junior Company – but eventually opted for a corps de ballet contract with the Mariinsky Ballet in St Petersburg. He stayed with the company for four years, where he was promoted to coryphée and cast for soloist roles in ballets like Swan Lake, Le Corsaire, Carmen, The Fountian of Bakhchisarai, Firebird and Balanchine’s Symphony in C. “It was hard work getting that far, but I had the time of my life there. I had a wonderful coach, Nikita Shcheglov, I was on stage night after night and danced with stars like Alina Somova, Maria Khoreva, Anastasia Matvienko and Maria Ilyushkina. The Mariinsky Ballet really made me who I am today.”
Peregrinations
A back injury and the Russian invasion of Ukraine led him to spend a while with his brother in Turkey, in 2022. “At the time, I thought I was leaving Russia temporarily. At the Mariinsky, I was well on my way to becoming a soloist and I expected the war to be over in a few months, or a year at most.” It turned out differently and Vsevolod realised he had to spread his wings. “I decided to go to the first company to offer me a contract.” So he ended up with Semperoper Ballett in Dresden. A year later, he followed the company’s artistic director (and former Dutch National Ballet dancer) Aaron Watkin to English National Ballet, then two years later made the switch to Dutch National Ballet. “Although I had a wonderful time in London, I didn’t feel it was quite right for me. I’d always heard great stories about Dutch National Ballet and I knew several dancers from the company from international galas. And besides that, I’d really love to dance Van Manen’s works and Balanchine’s Diamonds, and”, he says laughing, “I’ve been chasing La Bayadère for about three years now. So it’s fantastic that the company’s staging a new version of it in my first season in Amsterdam!”
Count Albrecht
In the past, his background as a ballroom dancer has often made him nervous for performances. “I always felt I had to work harder than anyone else to make up for lost time.” But since his injury, he has increasingly come to realise: “Why am I doing what I do? Because I truly love this profession! That means I can now be much more in the moment, feel the music in my body and really live my roles from within. And now I’m also aware that if I enjoy it to the full, then the audience feels that vibe too.”
When asked whether he’s more of a lyrical prince than an explosive stage animal, he says, “Both, I hope. I want to be as versatile as possible.” Although he does have one favourite role for the moment: that of Count Albrecht in Giselle. “Mainly because of Adolphe Adam’s music, which fits the story so perfectly that you barely need to think. You just go with the flow. And then those final notes, when Giselle has forgiven Albrecht and she returns to her grave… goose bumps! Every single time! Ballet may be top-class sport for fifty or sixty percent, but it’s on stage that the magic happens.”
Text: Astrid van Leeuwen
CV
Place of birth:
Kyiv (Ukraine)
With Dutch National Ballet since:
2025
Career with Dutch National Ballet:
Soloist (2025)
Previously danced with:
Marijinski Ballet (Sint-Petersburg), Semperoper Ballett (Dresden) en English National Ballet (Londen)
Training:
State Choreographic School (Kyiv), training programme with Ellison Ballet (New York)
Awards:
- 2018: Youth America Grand Prix, semi-final, gold medal
- 2017: Youth America Grand Prix, place in the final
- 2017: Grand Prix Kyiv (Ukraine), gold medal
- 2016: Grand Prix Kyiv (Ukraine), bronze medal
Last update: September 2025