Christine Shevchenko

Photo: Alex DiMattia.

Christine Shevchenko was born in Odessa, Ukraine where she was chosen to train in rhythmic gymnastics and ballet at an Olympic School.  At the age of eight, she moved to the United States and trained for nine years at Pennsylvania Ballet’s Rock School.  Shevchenko danced the children’s lead in Pennsylvania Ballet’s The Nutcracker for three years, and was featured in the NBC special Degas and the Dance. In 2002 she was invited to perform with International Ballet Theatre Company’s “Stars of Kirov, Bolshoi and Ukrainian Ballet” in Annapolis, Maryland.  In 2003, Shevchenko became the youngest recipient of the Princess Grace Award.  Other awards include the Bronze Medal in the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi, 2005 Gold Medal and Title of Laureate at the Moscow International Ballet Competition, the George Zoritch of  Ballet Russe Award for Talent Recognition, and the 2010 Margaret King Moore Dancer Award.  She danced leading and soloist roles from Don Quixote, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Harlequinade,The Flames of Paris, Grand Pas Classique, Le Corsaire, Paquita, La Bayadère, and Symphony in C.  She also performed various contemporary pieces by many choreographers, including Caprice #1, specially choreographed by Benjamin Millepied for a competition.

Shevchenko joined American Ballet Theatre Studio Company in August 2006, became an apprentice with the main Company in December 2007, and joined the corps de ballet in June 2008. She was promoted to Soloist in 2014 and to Principal Dancer in September 2017. Her repertoire with ABT includes Polyhymnia in Apollo, Gamzatti and a Shade in La Bayadère, Milkmaid in The Bright Stream, the Fairy Summer in Cinderella, Lead Mazurka/Czardas in Coppélia, Medora in Le Corsaire, Kitri, Mercedes, the Dryad Queen, and a flower girl in Don Quixote, the title role in Firebird, Lead Can-Can Dancer in Gaîté Parisienne, Giselle, Myrta, and Moyna in Giselle, Lead Persian Lady in The Golden Cockerel, Partisan Woman in The Green Table, Pierrette in Alexei Ratmansky’s Harlequinade, Blanche Ingram in Jane Eyre, An Episode in His Past in Jardin aux Lilas, Nikiya in The Kingdom of the Shades, Nanine in Lady of the Camellias, Mama Elena in Like Water for Chocolate, Lescaut’s Mistress in Manon, Clara, the Princess and one of The Nutcracker’s Sisters in Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, Callirhoe in Of Love and Rage, Olga in On the Dnipro, Tatiana in Onegin, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Fairy of Joy in The Sleeping Beauty, Lilac Fairy and Diamond Fairy in Ratmansky’s The Sleeping Beauty, Odette/Odile, the pas de trois, and Italian Princess in Swan Lake, Sylvia, Diana, and Ceres in Sylvia, Sylvia Pas de Deux, Princess Tea Flower and Mademoiselle Marianne Chartreuse in Whipped Cream, Hermione and Paulina in The Winter’s Tale, “Becomings” and “Tuesday” in Woolf Works, leading roles in Ballet Imperial, The Brahms-Haydn Variations, Garden Blue, Her Notes, Mozartiana, Piano Concerto No. 1, Raymonda Divertissements, Seven Sonatas, Single Eye, Symphonie Concertante, Symphonic Variations, and Thirteen Diversions, and featured roles in Bach Partita, Birthday Offering, Company B, Deuce Coupe, Duets, In the Upper Room, and Sinfonietta.

She created Dunya in Crime and Punishment, Irene in A Gathering of Ghosts, leading roles in City of Women and Songs of Bukovina, and featured roles in AfterEffect, Dream within a Dream (deferred), Everything Doesn’t Happen at Once, Praedicere, and Private Light.

ABT is grateful to Sharon Patrick for supporting the Dancer Fund in honor of Christine Shevchenko.