During this period, relations between the Soviet Union and the United States grew warmer, and the Kirov Ballet embarked on several US tours for the first time in decades.

At the age of 20 he graduated from the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, then called the Leningrad Choreographic School, where he studied under Aleksandr Pushkin.

He worked on this ballet with Soviet historian Yuri Slonimsky who, according to Vinogradov, had access to Petipa's original scores which he says made it possible to "rectify many mistakes".

The choreographers represented on this tour included Boris Eifmann, Dmitry Bryantsev and an excerpt from Béjart's Notre Faust.

[4] During their 1989 tour of the United States, the Kirov performed a wide range of classical and contemporary works including Le Corsaire, Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty, and Paquita (with music by Ludwig Minkus).

[5] Vinogradov also became the first Soviet ballet master to invite Maurice Béjart and Roland Petit to stage works for the Kirov.

[3] In 1991, the Washington Post wrote that the company had begun to "free itself of its Communist shackles" and "open its doors to Western artists and influences".

When the Kirov toured the US that year Andris Liepa, Veronika Ivanova and Igor Zelensky were among the new additions to the company's ranks.