Alexander Godunov

Alexander Borisovich Godunov was a RussianAmerican ballet dancer and film actor, whose defection caused a diplomatic incident between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Godunov was born in Sakhalin, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, in the Russian Far East. Godunov began his ballet studies in Riga in 1958, in the same class as Mikhail Baryshnikov. The two became friends and helped each other throughout their years there. Godunov joined the Bolshoi Ballet in 1971 and rose to become Premier danseur. His teachers there included Aleksey Yermolayev. In 1973, he won a gold medal at the Moscow International Ballet Competition.

Source: Wikipedia