At approximately 1 a.m. on Saturday, 16 November, Vladimir Shklyarov fell to his death from the fifth floor of his apartment block at Lieutenant Schmidt Embankment on St Petersburg’s Vasilyevsky Island. He was 39. That much is true. How and why he fell will be the subject of ongoing conjecture, perhaps for years to come.
Shklyarov posted on social media: ‘I’m against all warfare…I want neither wars nor borders’
Nicknamed ‘the Skylark’ by English-speaking balletomanes, Shklyarov was nearing the end of his career as one of his generation’s greatest dancers, possessing an elegant lyrical, yet athletic, virtuoso performance style and technique, which was second to none. His whole career was centred on St Petersburg, from his training at the famous Vaganova Academy to his subsequent career in the Mariinsky Ballet for over 20 years. In 2020, he received the highest state accolade when he became an Honoured Artist of Russia. Like all dancers approaching 40, friends say that he was dreading the end of his career.
Although he danced for the St Petersburg-based company (formerly known as the Kirov Ballet) throughout his career, he was also much sought after as a guest principal, including a stint at the Royal Ballet in 2018, performing in Frederick Ashton’s Marguerite and Armand and Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon.
There are generally only three explanations for this kind of death: an accident, suicide, or murder. In the hours after Skylark’s demise, amidst the thousands of expressions of sadness and condolence, social media was also awash with speculation about the cause of his fall.
The official statement by the Mariinsky Theatre simply stated: ‘Tonight, the audience’s favourite, the star premier of the Mariinsky Theatre, Vladimir Shklyarov, tragically died. This is a huge loss for the entire staff of the Mariinsky Theatre. We offer our condolences to the artist’s family, friends and all the numerous fans of his work and talent.’
Initial reports in Russian media suggested that he fell from the balcony outside his apartment. A former dancer, Irina Bartnovskaya, told the website Fontanka.ru that ‘he went out onto the balcony to get some air and smoke, lost his balance (a very narrow balcony) and fell down (from the fifth floor).’ This is an interesting amount of detail since it is not clear whether Bartnovskaya was present at the time.
It is known that Shklyarov was taking strong medication to mask the pain of a spinal injury, for which he was due to have major corrective surgery just two days after his death. Bartnovskaya also spoke of an injured foot.
News of Shklyarov’s death was first reported by the “78” TV Channel in Russia, following which the website 78.ru alleged that the dancer ‘had serious problems with alcohol and drugs’ and that ‘all this happened against the backdrop of a divorce from his wife, the first ballerina of the Mariinsky Theatre, Maria Shirinkina.’ Friends in Russia have told me that although separated for some time, they were not yet divorced and that Shirinkina remained very supportive of her husband.
The report also alleged that strong alcohol was found during a search of Shklyarov’s apartment. A security guard on duty that night told “78” that the dancer was walking along the ledge on the external wall of the apartment block and, after being challenged, he fell as he tried to re-enter his own balcony. A further unconfirmed allegation is that he had called a friend to come to his apartment, but the dancer was already dead when she arrived.
Those uncorroborated accounts suggest that he fell to his death accidentally while climbing on the wall outside his apartment. There is also an implication that his state of mind may have been unbalanced due to the split from his wife (he and Shirinkina had two young children, a son aged nine and a three-year-old daughter), together with worries about the impending operation and the inevitable march of time towards the end of his career. All or any of this could be true.
Russian ballet is no stranger to tragedy
However, there is another dimension to this tragedy. Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in March 2022, Shklyarov posted on social media: ‘I’m against all warfare…I want neither wars nor borders,’ while also noting that his grandfather was Ukrainian.
However, I don’t hold with the theory of assassination. There is no doubt that he lived in a regime that is intolerant of criticism and even that mild rebuke from a prominent figure might have been seen as a bridge too far. However, Shklyarov’s comment was almost three years ago and it had no effect on his status at the Mariinsky Theatre, which is run by Valery Gergiev, a prominent supporter of the Putin regime.
Revenge is a dish best served cold, but I believe that there may be a simpler and less sinister explanation for this personal tragedy. It is a fourth reason for why someone might fall to their death, and that is addiction.
It seems to be an open secret amongst his contemporaries that Shklyarov was suffering from alcohol and drug addiction. He was also suffering severe back pain and may have had a foot injury.
Far from being the victim of a state hit, this appears to be just a very sad case of a man suffering from addiction and pain trying a desperate measure to gain some solace and paying the ultimate price for it.
Russian ballet is no stranger to tragedy. In 1977, the dancer Yuri Soloviev was found dead with gunshot wounds that were presumed to be self-inflicted, and in 2012 the (then) artistic director of Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet, Sergei Filin, was disfigured and partially blinded when acid was thrown in his face – an act commissioned by a dancer in the company. It is also important to note that several Ukrainian ballet dancers have died in action or from bombing during the current war.
An investigation into Shklyarov’s death is now underway, but even that might fail to convince anyone that the latest tragedy was the accident that it seems to have been. In any event, it is yet one more dreadful episode in Russia’s Ballet Babylon.
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