Svetlana Zakharova

Principal Dancer, Guest

Born in Ukraine, Svetlana Zakharova first studied at a local dance studio from the age of 6. Aged 10 she joined the Kiev Choreographic school, where she trained mainly with Valeria Sulegina. In 1995 she entered the International Young Dancers' Competition in Saint Petersburg. She won the second prize for her performance of Princess Florine in the pas de deux of the Blue Bird in Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty, the variation of George Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux and the first variation from Paquita.

Following the competition she was allowed to continue her training at the "Agrippina Vaganova" Academy in Saint Petersburg. In June 1996 Svetlana graduated from the Vaganova Academy, performing Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux. She immediately joined the Mariinsky Ballet, where she was promoted to Principal dancer only a year later. Svetlana Zakharova took part in all the major tours of the Mariinsky Ballet and from 1999 on she was invited as a guest star by the main ballet companies of the world, including New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Paris Opera Ballet, Teatro alla Scala, English National Ballet and New National Theatre Ballet in Tokyo. As of October 2003 Svetlana Zakharova started dancing as a principal with the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow. 

Awards

• Second prize at the Third International Ballet Competition in Saint Petersburg
• Special prize Our Hope from the Baltica in Saint Petersburg
• Golden Sophit
• Golden Mask Award for Balanchine's Serenade
• Golden Mask Award for The Sleeping Beauty (2000)
• Special prize awarded by the city of Saint Petersburg
• Prize of the Italian magazine Danza & Danza
• Benois de la danse

Guest performances with the Bayerisches Staatsballett

Swan Lake / guest performances of the Kirov Ballet
Manon in Manon (K. MacMillan), Terpsichore-Gala III
Nikiya in La Bayadère (P. Bart)
Giselle in Giselle (P. Wright/M. Petipa), 2016