ABT dancer David Hallberg joining Bolshoi Ballet

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David Hallberg, a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, is joining the prestigious Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, making him the first American dancer to become a permanent member of the Russian company. The news was first reported Tuesday in the New York Times.

Hallberg is expected to join the Bolshoi as a premier dancer, the company’s equivalent of a principal, and is scheduled to begin in November in a production of ‘Giselle,’ according to the New York Times report.

A spokeswoman for ABT said in an email Tuesday that Hallberg ‘very much remains a principal dancer with ABT.’

Hallberg, 29, is widely regarded as one of the top male dancers in the world. He started his career at ABT in 2001 in the corps de ballet and was promoted to soloist in 2004. He became a principal with the company in 2005. He has performed in Southern California on a number of occasions, including ABT productions of ‘Swan Lake’ in 2008 and ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in 2009 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

He also appeared in ‘Kings of the Dance’ at the Ahmanson Theatre in 2010.

Hallberg studied at the Arizona Ballet School in Phoenix before making his career in New York.

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— David Ng