Polina Semionova
| Polina Semionova | |
|---|---|
| Born |
13 September 1984 Moscow, Russia |
| Occupation | Ballet dancer |
Polina Alexandrovna Semionova (born 13 September 1984) is a Russian ballet dancer who was previously a principal dancer with the Berlin State Ballet and is currently principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre in New York and Professor at the Berlin State Ballet School.
She grew up in Moscow and attended Ballet school with her older brother Dmitry Semionov, who is now a principal dancer with the Staatsballett Berlin. Studying at the Bolshoi Ballet School in Moscow, she won awards in the top ballet competitions; including a gold medal at the Moscow International Ballet Competition 2001, First Prize at the Vaganova-Prix Ballet Competition in St Petersburg 2002, and Junior Prize at the Nagoya (Japan) International Ballet Competition 2002.
Graduating in 2002, Semionova joined the Berlin State Ballet as a principal upon the invitation of its artistic director Vladimir Malakhov, becoming the youngest principal in the company's history at the age of 18. She toured Japan as Malakhov's partner, the reason he had invited her to be a principal in the company. He gave her the lead roles in The Nutcracker and La Bayadère during her first season, following with the role of Tatiana in Onegin, which became her favourite role. In 2003, at the age of 19, Semionova performed with the English National Ballet in Swan Lake, receiving approving reviews from English critics. The following year she joined the California Ballet in their production of The Sleeping Beauty, again impressing critics despite what they termed a disappointing overall ballet.
Appearing in Herbert Grönemeyer's 2003 music video "Demo (Letzter Tag)", which was later uploaded to YouTube, brought her to the attention of both the dance community and the general public. Semionova is one of the featured artists on EuroArts DVD "Divine Dancers Live from Prague", in which she dances a pas-de-deux from the ballet "Manon".
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