Vladimir Vasiliev is a ballet dancer, choreographer, artist, and educator. People's Artist of the USSR (1973). Honorary Professor of Moscow State University (since 1995). Recipient of numerous state awards and prizes for his contributions to the nation. In 1958, he graduated from the Moscow Choreographic School (class of Mikhail Gabovich). In 1982, he completed his studies at the State Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS), specialising in ballet staging. From 1958 to 1988, Vasiliev was a principal dancer with the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre, and from 1995 to 2000, he served as its General Director and Artistic Director. He performed leading roles in classical and contemporary ballets: Basil ("Don Quixote" by Ludwig Minkus), Albrecht ("Giselle" by Adolphe Adam), Romeo ("Romeo and Juliet" by Sergei Prokofiev), Spartacus ("Spartacus" by Aram Khachaturian), Ivanushka ("The Little Humpbacked Horse" by Rodion Shchedrin), Ivan the Terrible ("Ivan the Terrible" by Sergei Prokofiev), and Danila ("The Stone Flower" by Sergei Prokofiev). He also danced in foreign productions, including Roland Petit's "The Blue Angel" and Maurice Béjart's "Petrouchka". Since 1971, Vladimir Vasiliev has worked as a choreographer, staging a number of ballets in Russia and abroad: "Icarus" (Sergei Slonimsky), "Macbeth" (Kirill Molchanov), "Balda" (Dmitri Shostakovich), Verdi's opera "La Traviata", and the television ballets "Anyuta" (1982) and "The House by the Road" (1984), set to music by Valery Gavrilin. Vladimir Vasiliev is also active as a painter — more than 30 exhibitions of his works have been held in Russia and abroad. The collection of the Bakhrushin Theatre Museum holds sketches, photographs from performances featuring Vladimir Vasiliev, posters, and archival materials.