Graduated from the Leningrad Choreographic Institute (now Vaganova Ballet Academy), class of Nikolai Zubkovsky and Vladimir Fidler. In 1966 he joined the Kirov (Mariinsky) Theatre where he appeared as Albrecht, Nutcracker, Siegfried, Désiré and Blue Bird, Basilio, Quasimodo (Notre Dame de Paris by Roland Petit), Golden Idol (La Bayadère), the Prince (Cinderella by Konstantin Sergeev) and many others. He was the first to perform the role of Adam (The Creation of the World by Natalia Kasatkina and Vladimir Vasilyov), Icarus (choreographed by Igor Belsky), Poruchik Rzhevsky (The Hussar Ballad by Oleg Vinogradov and Dmitri Bryantsev) and Khlestakov (The Government Inspector by Oleg Vinogradov).