Olga Smirnova

Olga Smirnova was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia. She trained as a dancer at the Vaganova Ballet Academy, where she studied under the legendary Lyudmila Kovaleva. In 2011, immediately after her graduation, she joined the Bolshoi Ballet, in the rank of soloist. She was then promoted to the rank of prima ballerina in 2016. Up until 2018, Smirnova was coached by the eminent Marina Kondratieva, then by Maria Allash.

Olga has guested with several ballet companies across the globe, including the Mariinsky Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Wiener Staatsballett, Hamburg Ballett, and les Ballets de Monte-Carlo. In addition, she has performed on countless stages around the world, including the US, Japan, China, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Bahrain, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Norway.

Olga has received numerous important professional accolades for her achievements. In 2016 she won the Grand Prix at the Dance Open Ballet Festival in St. Petersburg (along with Semyon Chudin) and she was awarded with the Miss Expressivity Award at the same festival in 2013. She has also won the Dancer of the Year Award from Positano Premia la Danza  Léonide Massine in Italy in 2014, and the Benois de la Danse award in the category Best Female Dancer in 2013. A year before that, she was awarded with the 2012 Soul of Dance Prize in the category Rising Star from Ballet Magazine, and the prize for Best Female Dancer in the 2012 Bolshoi Ballet project, which was broadcast on the Russian TV channel TVP Kultura. Already in 2009, Olga won the Grand Prix Award from the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.