Valery Panov

Valery Matveevich Panov (Russian: Валерий Матвеевич Панов; born 12 March 1938) is a Soviet dancer and choreographer. Born and raised in the Soviet Union, he trained in Leningrad and performed with the Kirov from 1964 to 1972. He and his second wife Galina, who was a ballerina at the Kirov, came to international attention in 1972 when they applied for exit visas to emigrate to Israel, which they were given in 1974. Panov worked with the Berlin Opera Ballet, as well as companies in other western European and North American countries, during the late 1970s and 1980s. He formed the Ashdod Art Centre in Israel, in 1993, and five years later founded the Panov Ballet Theatre, also in Ashdod. To Dance (New York, 1978) ISBN 9780394498829

A musical theatre production of To Dance had its world premier 18–30 August 2015, at The New York International Fringe Festival. Book and lyrics are by Kyra Robinov and music is by Tibor Zonai. A review on the website Theatre is Easy called the production "a testimony to strong will, determination, and effort overcoming oppression and tyranny."

The musical had been under development since 2011, and was previewed at the Santa Fe Musical Theatre Festival in August 2014.