Olga Smirnova

Helena-Maria Buckley.

Olga Smirnova was born in St. Petersburg, Russia and studied at the Vaganova Ballet Academy under Lyudmila Kovaleva. She graduated in 2011 and joined the Bolshoi Ballet as a soloist the same year.  She was promoted to first soloist in 2012, to leading soloist in 2013, and to principal dancer in 2016.  She was coached by Marina Kondratyeva until 2018 and then by Maria Allash.

Her repertoire with the Bolshoi included the title roles in Anna Karenina, Carmen Suite, Giselle, Orlando, and Raymonda, Terpsichore in Apollo, the first pas de deux in Artifact Suite, Nikiya in La Bayadère, Medora in Le Corsaire, Kitri and the Queen of the Dryads in Don Quixote, Duet in Dream of Dream, Aspicia in La Fille du Pharaon, Couple in White in Forgotten Land, Bela in A Hero of Our Time, Anastasia in Ivan the Terrible, Marguerite Gautier in Lady of the Camellias, Marchesa Sampietri in Marco Spada, ​Margarita in Master & Margarita, Tatiana in Onegin, Princess Aurora and the Lilac Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty, Aegina in Spartacus, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Bianca in The Taming of the Shrew, Hermione The Winter’s Tale, leading roles in Diamonds (Part I of Jewels) and Études, and soloist roles in Emeralds (Part III of Jewels) and Symphony in C.

In 2022, Smirnova joined Dutch National Ballet as a principal, where she is coached by Larissa Lezhnina. Her repertoire at Dutch National Ballet includes Kitri in Don Quixote, the title roles in Giselle and Raymonda, Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, and roles in Adagio Hammerklavier, Concertante, Four Schumann Pieces, Frank Bridge Variations, Diamonds and Emeralds from Jewels, Messa da Requiem, Trois Gnossiennes, Variations for Two Couples, and Wings of Wax.

Smirnova has appeared as guest artist with Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, the Mariinsky Ballet, the Vienna State Ballet, and the Hamburg Ballet. She has performed on stages around the world in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, China, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Singapore, Bahrain, and Norway.

Smirnova’s awards and recognitions include the Grand Prix of the Mikhailovsky Theatre Students Competition (2009), Best Female Dancer in the Bolshoi Ballet dance competition on Kultura TV (2012), the Soul of Dance Prize (in the “Rising Star” category) from Ballet magazine (2012), “Miss Expressivity” at the Dance Open Ballet Festival (2013), the Prix Benois de la Danse for Best Female Dancer (2013), Dancer of the Year from the Premio Positano Léonide Massine (2014), the Grand Prix at the Dance Open Ballet Festival (2016), Dancer of the Year from Dance Europe magazine (2022), and the Alexandra Radius Prize (2024).

Smirnova made her debut with American Ballet Theatre in 2014 dancing Nikiya in La Bayadère.