Artem Vyacheslavovich Ovcharenko (; born 31 December 1986) is a Russian classical ballet dancer. He is a principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet and a guest artist with the Hamburg Ballet. Life and career Ovcharenko was born on 31 December 1986 in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. He began studying ballet at the Dnipropetrovsk State Choreographic School when he was 11 years old. At the age of 17, he entered the Bolshoi Ballet Academy where he participated in the Academy's tours to the U.S., Greece, Germany, China and other countries. He graduated in 2007 and was admitted to the Bolshoi Ballet in the corps de ballet. His mentor was Nikolay Tsiskaridze and within one year he was given the leading role in the ballet The Nutcracker. From 2009 he studied under Nikolai Fadeyechev and since 2016 his repetiteur has been Victor Barykin. Ovcharenko's repertoire covers most of the classical romantic roles: Romeo, The Prince in The Nutcracker, and Prince Siegfried, as well as leading roles in neoclassical productions such as George Balanchine's Apollo and Jewels, Lady of the Camellias by John Neumeier, Onegin by John Cranko, Lost Illusions by Alexei Ratmansky, and Marco Spada by Pierre Lacotte. With an ever-eager interest in exploring new roles, Ovcharenko has had much success in the contemporary ballets staged at the Bolshoi, such as Chroma by Wayne McGregor, Classical Symphony by Yuri Possokhov, and The Taming of the Shrew by Jean-Christophe Maillot. Ovcharenko has participated in the Bolshoi Ballet tours to Asia, Europe and Americas, and he is a welcome guest star in famous international companies such as Berlin State Ballet, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, Hamburg State Opera, and also at international ballet festivals and national culture projects. Ovcharenko took part in some prestigious dance competitions, receiving gold at the Tanzolymp in Berlin in 2006, and another at the Arabesque competition in Perm in 2008. In 2009, he won a Special prize "To the best partner" at the International competition of ballet dancers, and was awarded with "The Rising Star" nomination. In 2010, he took part in the International Festival "World Ballet Stars" in Donetsk, Ukraine. In January 2011, he performed with Bolshoi principal, Nina Kaptsova at the 6th Prague Ballet Gala, and in August, he danced with Anna Tikhomirova, at the closing gala-concert of the 8th Congress of the World Federation of UNESCO Clubs, Centres and Associations in Hanoi. In July 2012,