Kolya Bagdasaryan — Artistic CV

Updated October 2026

Profile & teaching practice

2016–presentMultidisciplinary artist, performer and movement facilitator. Since 2016, he has led individual sessions, group workshops, intensives and research laboratories, helping participants explore their creative potential through movement, attention and embodied listening.

ExperienceMore than 700 classes and research sessions; work in more than 60 cities across seven countries: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Spain, Thailand and England.

ParticipantsHis participants include professional actors trained at GITIS, VGIK, the Shchepkin and Shchukin theatre schools, the Moscow Art Theatre School, RGISI and SPbGIKiT, alongside dancers, musicians, visual artists, circus performers and people working in education, healthcare, business, law, technology and other fields.

ApproachPlay, improvisation and partner work create a setting for exploring coordination, physical responsiveness and decision-making. Listening, trust, mutual support and the ability to negotiate with others are central to the process, with attention to both individual discovery and collaboration within a group.

Selected artistic work

2025–26Mephistopheles in Scenes from the Life of Doctor Faust — lead role, Obraztsov Puppet Theatre. Director: Egor Druzhinin; Co-Director: Maxim Kustov.

2023Performance at Green Theatre — direction, movement and original music. A four-day laboratory with 14 dancers, culminating in a public performance.

2021–22Sense of Rhythm — exhibition project at the A. Kasteyev Museum of Arts in Almaty, developed with Étage Design Studio and Alfa-Bank Kazakhstan. Participation in Baurjan Bismildin’s photographic project and in Rhythm of the Steppe (filmed in 2021), contributing performance, movement and concept.

2017Performer in Kiss by Tino Sehgal at the New Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, organised by the V-A-C Foundation.

Education

2011–15Lomonosov Moscow State University, Higher School of Business — bachelor’s degree in Management, with a focus on organisational management.

2013Semester of Liberal Arts study at Bader International Study Centre, England, United Kingdom.

2010Completed Level I training in public speaking and communication.

Movement & performance training

Since 2010Training across contemporary dance, jazz, modern, jazz-funk and hip-hop, with foundations in classical ballet. Street-dance practice includes locking, popping, house and hip-hop freestyle.

OngoingSocial-dance experience in salsa, bachata and Argentine tango; acrobatic training and ongoing exploration through acting and performance workshops.

Since 2016Practice and teaching in attention, breathing, self-observation and concentration. Body-based methods include massage and self-massage, myofascial release, exploration of muscular tension and relaxation, and awareness of bones, ligaments and joints.

Music & composition

BackgroundChildhood singing and instrumental practice in a Russian folk ensemble, playing traditional percussion and wind instruments, including wooden spoons, rattles, drum, recorder, zhaleika, rozhok and ocarina, alongside two years of balalaika study.

From age 13Self-directed piano study inspired by jazz and blues. His current musical practice centres on piano, improvisation and composing original music for his performances.

Recognition

FilmRhythm of the Steppe — shortlisted at Berlin Commercial in Cinematography and Craft; featured by Nowness Asia; presented at the Sense of Rhythm exhibition in Almaty.

2016Laureate of the Tochka Zreniya festival in the Solo Choreography category.

Languages

RussianNative

EnglishFluent

SpanishBeginner