page_title: Alexandrov Ensemble
section_title: Dancers
hierarchical_section_title: Alexandrov Ensemble / Composition / Dancers
caption_attribution_description: English: A postcard featuring an advertisement for bandura lessons by the Ukrainian bandurist Vasyl&#39; Potapenko in Kiev, Ukraine.
context_page_description: The Alexandrov Ensemble is an official army choir of the Russian armed forces. Founded during the Soviet era, the ensemble consists of a male choir, an orchestra, and a dance ensemble.
  The Ensemble has entertained audiences both in Russia and throughout the world, performing a range of music including folk tunes, hymns, operatic arias and popular music. The group's repertoire has included The Volga Boatmen's Song, Katyusha, Kalinka, and Ave Maria.
  It is named for its first director, Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov. Its formal name since 1998 has been A. V. Alexandrov Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army, shortened to Academic Ensemble on second reference.
  On 25 December 2016, its artistic director, Valery Khalilov, and 63 other members of the Ensemble were killed in the Russian Defence Ministry aircraft crash of a 1983 Tupolev Tu-154 into the Black Sea just after takeoff from the southern resort city of Sochi, Russia. The Red Army Choir singers and dancers were en route to Syria to entertain Russian troops there for Orthodox Christmas celebrations.
context_section_description: Current members of the ballet are listed here. 
  Among the dances staged by the ensemble are Zaparozhtsi Dance, Cossack's Cavalry Dance, Festive March, Dance of the Cossacks, Soldier's Dance, and Sailor's Dance. Some of these are performed by mixed dancers, while others, such as Cossack's Cavalry Dance, are performed by male dancers only.
  The ballet is under the direction of Lev Nikolaevich Kulikov National Artist of Russia, the main ballet master,  and maintains the heights of choreographic art with honour. The priority in its repertoire is taken by the military compositions: Matroskaya barynya, Kazachiya cavalry plyaska, Festive march, Invitation to dance and others. The ballet performs a lot of Russian folk dances. The classical repertoire contains Poloveckie plyasky from the opera Prince Igor written by Alexander Borodin. This is from our dance classics, but we always update the dance repertoire. (Leonid Ivanovich Malev, current Director of the Ensemble, interviewed by Russia Beyond the Headlines 1 Dec 2008)
caption: The song Bandura, a duet recorded with soloists I. Savchuk and V. Fedorov, refers to this instrument (photo ca.1925)
exif: {}