Nikolay Tsiskaridze is a Russian ballet dancer who had been a member of the Bolshoi Ballet for 21 years.
Tsiskaridze was born in Tbilisi, Georgia in 1973. He began his dance studies at the Tbilisi Ballet School in 1984 and joined the Moscow Ballet School in 1987, where he studied under the guidance of Pyotr Pestov. After graduating in 1992, Tsiskaridze directly joined the ballet company of the Bolshoi Theatre, then under the direction of Yury Grigorovich, and was promoted to the position of principal in 1995. Since then, Tsiskaridze has performed internationally with a number of ballet companies across the world, including the Mariinsky Ballet and Paris Opera Ballet. He also participated in most of the foreign tours of the Bolshoi Ballet.
In October 2003 Tsiskaridze had to face his first major injury which threatened to end his career - the devastating knee injury sustained during his rehearsal at Opera de Paris. After the very first operation when doctors changed the ligament in his knee he got staphylococci infection into his body and for some period he was in a critical state. With further 9 operations doctors succeeded to save not only his life, but his leg as well. Finally, he started learning to walk. He entered the stage after 9-month intermission.
Tsiskaridze has received many honours: he became the youngest person to be named a People's Artist of Russia (2001) when he was in the age of 28
In October 2013, Tsiskaridze was appointed as an acting Rector of the prestigious Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in Saint Petersburg (est. in 1738), on the order of the Culture Minister. He stopped being "acting" and started to work hard as the full Rector of the institution.
On 29 Nov, 2014 Tsiskaridze was formally confirmed as a Rector of the Vaganova Academy in unopposed election, winning 227 of the 244 possible votes which include professors, students and even school canteen workers. Even though his appointment a year ago caused a scandal, Tsiskaridze won the support of the staff with his hard work and significant results - improving the quality of education at the Academy, raising the funds for the school equipment and furnishing, negotiating various collaborations with other well-known schools and theatres, bringing the new repertoire broadening the range of opportunities for graduates.