Anna Tsygankova and Matthew Golding in Swan Lake

Anna Tsygankova as Odile and Matthew Golding as Prince Siegfried (both with Dutch National Ballet, e.g. Het Nationale Ballet), Pas de Deux from Swan Lake. Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovski, choreography by Marius Petipa.

The Black Swan Pas de Deux, which ends with glittering virtuosity from the Ballerina as well as the Danseur, was originally staged by Petipa as a Grand Pas de Deux à Quatre demi d’action – Prince Siegfried (Pavel Gerdt) and an additional suitor (danced by Alexander Gorsky) partnered Odile (Pierina Legnani), while Von Rothbart (danced by Alexei Bulgakov) did most of the acting/mime. In order to share in the “labour” of partnering, it was tradition in the late 19th century Imperial Theatres to have an additional suitor, along with the lead cavalier, partner the Prima Ballerina in a ballet’s Grand Adagio. This was mostly because the aging Pavel Gerdt (who was fifty years old in 1895) was performing nearly all of the lead male roles in the repertory.

Anna Tsygankova (Novosibirsk, Russia) graduated from Novosibirsk Ballet Academy, danced with the famous Bolshoi Ballet, the Hungarian National Ballet and the Ballett der Wiener Staatsoper. Anna trained also at the Académie de Danse Classique Princesse Grace in Monte Carlo. She has won several international dance awards, and received the Alexandra Radius Prize in 2008, one year after joining the Dutch National Ballet at 2007. This was followed in 2011 by a nomination for a ‘Zwaan’ award for Most Impressive Dance Achievement by the VSCD for her role as Kitri in Don Quichotte.

Matthew Golding was born September 17th,1985, in Saskatchewan, Canada. He studied at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Canada and the Universal Ballet Academy in Washington D.C.  In 2002, he was awarded the “Grand Prix” from the Youth American Ballet Competition in New York  and received a prize scholarship at The Prix de Lausanne Ballet Competition to attend the Royal Ballet School in London. He graduated from The Royal Ballet School of 2003 and joined the American Ballet Theater, NY.  In 2009 he joined The Het National Ballet, Amsterdam, where now he’s a Principal dancer.