Gennadi Nedvigin

Gennadi Nedvigin

Artistic Director

Born in Rostov, Russia, Gennadi Nedvigin began his training at age 5. At 10, Nedvigin was accepted into Bolshoi Ballet Academy, one of the most prestigious schools in the ballet world. Upon graduating, he joined his first professional company, Moscow Renaissance Ballet, as a soloist, before he was invited to dance with Le Jeune Ballet de France in Paris. In 1997, while on tour in the United States, San Francisco Ballet artistic director Helgi Tomasson offered Nedvigin a soloist contract. Later that year, he joined San Francisco Ballet. After three years with the company, he was promoted to principal dancer.

Nedvigin’s major roles include Albrecht in Giselle, Nutcracker Prince in The Nutcracker, Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet, Prince Desiré and Blue Bird in The Sleeping Beauty, Prince Siegfried in Tomasson's Swan Lake, Basilio in Tomasson/Possokhov’s Don Quixote, Franz in Balanchine’s Coppélia, Lensky in Cranko’s Onegin and Aminta in Morris’ Sylvia.

His repertory also includes principal roles in works of other world-known choreographers such as Julia Adam, Sir Fredrick Ashton, George Balanchine, Michel Fokine, William Forsythe, Johan Kobborg, Serge Lifar, Kenneth MacMillan, Hans van Manen, Mark Morris, Rudolf Nureyev, Ashley Page, Yuri Possokhov, Alexei Ratmansky, Liam Scarlett, Paul Taylor, Helgi Tomasson, Anthony Tudor, Stanton Welch, Christopher Wheeldon, Renato Zanella and others.

During his career in San Francisco, Nedvigin won the International Competition’s Erik Bruhn Prize (1999). He has received three Isadora Duncan Dance Awards (2001, 2010 & 2017). Over the years, he has shared his knowledge and training with other dancers by teaching master classes at numerous ballet schools in the United States. Exposing his excellence to audiences worldwide, Nedvigin has been a guest artist with several internationally acclaimed companies and has appeared in gala performances, tours and festivals across the globe.

While at San Francisco Ballet, he served as ballet master for several works by Yuri Possokhov, including Classical Symphony and Swimmer, as well as excerpts from Bells, Diving into the Lilacs and Carmen. He also staged Classical Symphony at Tulsa Ballet, Romanian National Ballet and Atlanta Ballet. Nedvigin claims that his experience setting the work at Atlanta Ballet during the 2015 season inspired him to apply for the directorship position when it later became available.

In February 2016, Nedvigin became the fourth artistic director of Atlanta Ballet in the company’s then 87-year history. In June 2016, he represented Atlanta Ballet as a member of the jury at The World Ballet Competition 10th Anniversary Finals in Orlando, Florida, marking his official transition from elite performer to artistic director. Nedvigin gave his final performance as a professional dancer in July 2016 at Despertares – an international ballet and modern dance festival held in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Photo by Charlie McCullers.