Olga Smirnova
Principal of the Dutch National Ballet
Born and raised in St. Petersburg. Studied at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet under the eminent tutor Lyudmila Kovaleva.
Immediately upon graduating from the Academy in 2011, joined the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow directly in the soloist rank, and became prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre in 2016. Worked under the tutelage of the legendary Marina Kondratieva until 2018 and then with Maria Allash as her master-tutor
In 2022 has joined the Dutch National Ballet (Het Nationale Ballet) as a principal, working with Larissa Lezhnina as her master-tutor
Olga appeared as guest artist with Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo (2015, 2016 and 2017), the American Ballet Theatre (2014), the Mariinsky Theatre (2014 and 2017), the Wiener Staatsballett (2017 and 2018), and the Hamburg Ballett John Neumeier (2018). Performed on stages around the world in the USA, UK, Japan, Republic of Korea, China, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Singapore, Bahrain and Norway
She received numerous important professional accolades, including Dancer of the Year 2022 by Dance Europe Magazine, the Grand Prix of the Dance Open Ballet Festival in St. Petersburg in 2016 (together with Semyon Chudin), the Dancer of the Year Award from Positano Premia la Danza – Leonide Massine in Italy in 2014, the Best Female Dancer Prize from the Benois de la Danse International Dance Association in 2013, the Miss Expressivity Prize of the Dance Open Ballet Festival in St. Petersburg in 2013, the 2012 Soul of Dance Rising Star Prize from Ballet Magazine, and the 2009 Grand Prix Award of the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. Winner of the inaugural televised Bolshoi Ballet dance competition on the Kultura TV channel in the Best Female Dancer category in 2012
Photo By: Samira Kafala