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Bulgarian born Christian Tátchev began his ballet training at age nine at the State School of Choreography in Sofia, where his principal teachers were Maria Stefanova and Ilian Drangajov. He started to take part in performances with ballet company “Arabesque” and the National Opera and Ballet of Sofia while still at school.
In 1995 he won second prize in the Bulgarian National Ballet Competition in Dobritch and joined the National Ballet of Sofia later that year. In 1996, Christian accepted a contract with PACT Ballet (later the State Theatre Ballet Company) where he was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2000. In August 2000 he joined Cape Town City Ballet and in 2002 he moved to Johannesburg to join the South African Ballet Theatre.
Christian's roles include the Prince in The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and The Nutcracker, Siegfried in Swan Lake, Albrecht in Giselle, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Shah in Papillion, Armand in La Traviata and the title roles in Kenneth Greve’s Hamlet and Andre Prokovsky’s Zivago. Other roles include Vronsky in Anna Karenina, Ivan in Fire Bird, the Poet in Les Sylphides, Danilo in The Merry Widow, Eisenstein in Ronald Hynd’s Rosalinda, James in La Sylphide, Oberon in F. Ashton’s The Dream, Principal man in Balanchine’s Who Cares and Ballet Imperial. He has also danced leading roles in Monotones, Rubies, Agon, Vespry, Lambarena, Company B, Carmen, Napoli, Les Patineurs, Jean Paul Comelin’s Les Nuites D'etes, Dance Symphony and Coppelia.
Christian was invited to produce the second act of Giselle for the National School of the Arts in Johannesburg in 2003, and in 2006, while at the South African Ballet Theatre, he danced at the International Contemporary Dance Festival in Moscow. The same year, Christian was appointed Company Coach for the South African Ballet Theatre in addition to his position as Principal dancer. He taught extensively at the South African Ballet Theatre Academy from 2002 until October 2008.
Christian choreographed and produced his first ballet in 2007, which was an abbreviated version of Don Quixote for South African Ballet Theatre’s Ballet Highlights season which was also presented as a longer version at the Grahamstown Arts Festival in July 2008.
Christian and his wife Zenia Tátcheva have danced together in Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and Les Sylphides, as well as the pax de deux from Romeo and Juliet for the Harare International Festival of the Arts in 2007. Together they took part in Queensland Ballet’s International Gala in August 2008 and joined the company in October 2008, Christian as a Principal Dancer. In that year, Christian performed in Soirees Classiques 2, Vis-à-vis Studio Series 3, and François Klaus’s Swan Lake (Nicholas and Siegfried).
In 2009, Christian performed in Klaus's A Streetcar Named Desire (Alistair), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Theseus/Oberon), and The Sleeping Beauty (King Florimund). He also performed in the Company's International Gala 2009 and ...with attitude 2009 seasons, as well as Vis-à-vis Studio Series 1 and 2 and Soirees Classiques 2. Christian toured with Queensland Ballet to Europe in October/November 2009 with Timeless Dances.
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