Alexey Torgunakov – dancer, choreographer, pedagogue. Ballet dancer of the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia. Artist at the Rozbark Dance and Movement Theatre in Bytom, Poland. Lecturer at the Dance Theatre Department in Bytom faculty of the AST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Krakow and a lecturer at the Lubomir Różycki General Ballet School in Bytom.
He was born in Protvino, a town located 115 km south of Moscow. From an early age he was taken by his father Sergei to general development classes at the community sports club. At the age of eight, Alexey began attending regular dance classes at the Proton Cultural Centre. Lessons were led by Anna Semushkina. In 2000, he began his professional education at the Gennady Ledyach School of Classical Dance in Moscow. After 2 years, he went to the Moscow State Academy of Choreography where he studied at prof. Leonid Zhdanov’s class. In 2004, he obtained secondary vocational education and qualifications as a ballet artist (speciality: choreographic art). Then, in 2008, he received higher education and qualifications as a ballet artist and dance pedagogue (speciality: choreographic performance).
Simultaneously with the commencement of his higher studies in 2004, A. Torgunakov began
working at the Bolshoi Theatre as a mime-dancer and in 2007 he became a dancer in the ballet ensemble. At that time, he performed in classical and contemporary repertoire, in opera and ballet performances including: Le Tricorne (chor. Léonide Massine), Diamonds (chor. George Balanchine), Symphony of Psalms (chor. Jiri Kylian ), Ivan the Terrible” (chor. Yury Grigorovich), Sleeping Beauty (chor. Marius Petipa), The Rite of Spring (chor. Tatiana
Baganova), Lost Illusions (chor. Alexei Ratmansky) and Carmen Suite (chor. Alberto Alonso).
In 2007, he won the Athens International Dance Competitions Hellas in the ballet and freestyle categories. In 2010, he took part in the international production Suivront mille ans de calme – Création 2010 (chor. Angelin Preljocaj). The spectacle was performed in countries such as: France, Russia, Luxembourg, Germany and the Netherlands. During this period A. Torgunakov also began to be interested in contemporary dance theatre which
resulted in performances in spectacles Open doors and Three lectures (dir. and chor. Natalia Shirokova).
In 2013 he was invited to join the contemporary dance group of the Provincial Dances Theater in Ekaterinburg, where he worked under the direction of Tatiana Baganova, choreographer and director. During the production of Forgot to Love he met choreographers Uri Ivgi and Johan Greben. They invited him in 2014 to join the team of
artists of the newly formed Rozbark Dance and Movement Theatre in Bytom. Then A. Torgunakov was in the group of dancers of Anna Piotrowska. She has been the artistic director of the Rozbark Theatre since 2015. During the cooperation, he took part in many of
her performances, including: Lost in the Skin, Underground Suns, Countables, GEMINItriptych, Fast Foot Fools, as well as appeared in the productions of other artists: Mommy Issues (dir. and chor. Cecilia Moisio), Plateau (dir. and chor. Maciej Kuźmiński and Paul
Bargetto), ZUGWANG (dir. and chor. Artur Bieńkowski) BILDERZERSTÖRER (dir. and chor. Yoshiko Waki and Rolf Baumgart).
The artist has also proven himself as a director and choreographer. He created the show ILLUMINATION for The Rozbark Dance and Movement Theatre in Bytom and the choreography: Entree, Where would I go and Human design for the repertoire of L. Różycki
General Ballet School in Bytom.
Together with Oleg Stepanov Alexey created mover|evermore creative duet. There were two performances made: All I Could Ever Be and Object in Distance. They were nominated for the
prestigious Russian „Golden Mask” award (2016 and 2018) in the categories of best choreography in contemporary dance theatre and best dance performance. The artists also experimented with video art and photography.
Since 2013 A. Torgunakov’s professional activity is also focused on teaching. He conducted dance classes for Provincial Dances Theater in Ekaterinburg and The Rozbark Dance and Movement Theatre in Bytom. He was also a lecturer at the Dance Theatre Department in
Bytom faculty of the AST National Academy of Theatre arts in Krakow and the L. Różycki General Ballet School in Bytom. He also conducted dance workshops in France, Japan, Germany, Luxembourg and Russia.
The artist belongs to the Red Producers Group where he leads a role of creative producer and is also involved in creating choreography and directing stage movement, among others, for the songs of Polish singer Karo Glazer – #StayTogether, Hand in Hand, Party, Let’s Groove or Stronger.
Alexey Torgunakov is open to various ways of artistic expression. In addition to classical and contemporary dance, he is also interested in visual arts – photography, film, performance and movement art. These interests turned into cooperation with artists such as: Alisa
Makarenko, Vladimir Glynin, Andrzej Hajdasz and Dima Loginoff.
