Mukhamedov, Irek (b Kazan, 8 Mar. 1960). Russian dancer. He studied at the Moscow Ballet School, a pupil of Alexander Prokofiev (1970-8). Upon graduation he joined the Classical Ballet Company, the troupe which Moiseyev had founded in 1967 (originally named the Young Ballet) as a touring outfit. He spent three years with the company, during which he took part in several world tours. It was with this company that he first danced Romeo, a role that was to become one of his most acclaimed. After winning the Grand Prix at the Moscow International Ballet Competition in 1981, he was invited to join the Bolshoi in 1981 as a principal. There he quickly established himself as Grigorovich's favourite male dancer, his athletic and heroic style being perfectly suited to the choreographer's theatrical vision. He starred in Grigorovich's Spartacus, Ivan the Terrible, and Romeo and Juliet and in 1984 created the role of Boris in Grigorovich's The Golden Age. His foreign tours with the Bolshoi earned him international adulation, and he was widely regarded as the most exciting and powerful male dancer of his day. In 1989 he was invited to the Paris Opera to dance the role of the Prince in Nureyev's staging of The Sleeping Beauty. In 1990 he left Russia to join the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, where his roles included Solor and Romeo. He found a mentor in the choreographer Kenneth MacMillan, who helped to develop the dancer's dramatic range and refine his powerhouse style. MacMillan created Winter Dreams for Mukhamedov (partnering Bussell) in 1991 and The Judas Tree for him in 1992. In addition, Mukhamedov inherited the leading male roles in MacMillan's Manon (1991) and Mayerling (1992). A stocky and muscular dancer, he was never ideally suited to the prince roles but he has none the less distinguished himself in a wide range of repertoire. He created leading roles in Tharp's Mr Worldly Wise, Ashley Page's Fearful Symmetries, now languorous, now wild, and Cheating, Lying, Stealing, and in William Tuckett's The Turn of the Screw and The Crucible. With Arc Dance Company he created the title roles in Othello (1994) and The Return of Don Juan (1999). In 1998 he left the Royal Ballet, although he continued to appear as a guest artist. In 1992 he founded Irek Mukhamedov and Company, which has toured intermittently.

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