18-year-old Julian MacKay becomes a soloist with the Mikhailovsky Ballet

After being introduced to Julian Mackay, and his whole dancing family, three years ago by his sister Maria Sascha Khan – now First Soloist with the Ekaterinburg State Ballet – I have been following the activities of the four siblings with interest. Nadia Khan was recently with the Compañía Nacional de Danza de España but now with the Rome Opera Ballet, and the youngest, Nicholas MacKay, is polishing his technique at the Vaganova Ballet Academy after several years, studying with brother Julian, at the Bolshoi's school.

In these three years, Julian has graduated from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, won medals at the Lausanne Sochi and Istanbul competitions, won the Prix de Lausanne in 2015 – giving him the opportunity to be a Royal Ballet apprentice for a year – and now starts his career as a Soloist with the Mikhailovsky Ballet Company.

18-year-old Julian jumps in at the deep end with the pas des esclaves, together with Irina Zhalovskaya, on 9 June.

Ни Пуха Ни Пера!

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.