Alina Somova
| Alina Somova | |
|---|---|
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in The Sleeping Beauty, 2010
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| Born |
Алина Алексеевна Сомова October 22, 1985 Saint Petersburg |
| Education | Dance Krushok School for Children; Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet |
| Occupation | Ballet dancer |
| Current group | Mariinsky Ballet |
Alina Somova (Russian: Али́на Алексе́евна Со́мова; born 22 October 1985) is a Russian ballet dancer and principal dancer with the Mariinsky Ballet of Saint Petersburg.
When Somova was young, she went to a regular Saint Petersburg school and then to a special math school at her mother's insistence. She was not able to excel in sports like her mother wished due to Russia's political and economic transition in the 1990s. Because of this, she was then introduced to ballet at the Dance Krushok school for children where she was recognized for her physical gifts for dancing. After it became time to choose math or ballet, she claimed there was no choice and then admitted herself to a one-year pre-curriculum program at the Vaganova Academy, before embarking on the eight-year course. She graduated in 2003 under the class of Lyudmila Safronova.
After graduating from the ballet school in 2003 at age 17, she then joined the Mariinsky Ballet under the Artistic Director Makhar Vaziev. During her first year in the company, she was given the unusual honor of dancing Odette/Odile in Swan Lake on May 13, 2003. She was one of the youngest dancers in the company history to attain this kind of recognition. Advancing quickly, she became a soloist in 2004. She began at the Mariinsky Ballet by learning the Swan Lake variations under her teacher at the time, Olga Ivanovna Chenchikova. She was also coached by Tatiana Terekhova who oversaw her rehearsals of George Balanchine's Symphony in C. Somova rapidly climbed the ranks, being promoted to principal in 2008. Somova still remains as a principal today.
Somova was one of the featured dancers in the 2006 documentary Ballerina.
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