Russian Female Dancers

One of the first ballerinas to travel extensively around the world, Anna Pavlova had first gained an interest in the dance form after watching an adaptation of The Sleeping Beauty. She initially gained fame dancing with Mikhail Mordkin and later made waves with her iconic role in The Dying Swan.

Svetlana Zakharova is a Russian ballet dancer best known for her association with the popular classical ballet company, Bolshoi Ballet. Zakharova achieved international recognition in the 2000s, performing as a principal dancer in places like France. She is the first Russian principal dancer to perform in Paris. She has also hosted TV programs and appeared in the 2006 documentary Ballerina.

Maya Plisetskaya was a legendary Soviet and Russian ballerina. Growing up in a war-torn region, she had a difficult childhood. She sought solace in ballet and pursued a career as a dancer. She was remarkably fluid in her movements and soon became internationally renowned. She later became a ballet director and choreographer. She was married to composer Rodion Shchedrin. 

Katya Jones is a Russian dancer, environmentalist, and choreographer. She is known for competing in the popular British TV dance contest Strictly Come Dancing. After winning the show in 2017 with Joe McFadden, Jones went on to compete in the show in 2020 along with retired boxer Nicola Adams, becoming the first same-sex couple in the history of the show.

Natalia Osipova  is a Russian ballerina. She is currently a principal ballerina with The Royal Ballet in London. Beginning her formal ballet training at the age of nine, she proceeded to study at the Moscow State Academy of Choreography. She began her professional career at 18 and has since performed in several musicals. She has won many awards. 

Olga Khokhlova was a Ukrainian ballet dancer. She also served as one of Pablo Picasso's early artistic muses before marrying him in 1918. Olga met Picasso at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris where the latter had designed the set and costumes for a ballet titled Parade, in which Olga performed. She left her ballet group after meeting Pablo Picasso.

Kristina Rihanoff is a Russian professional ballroom dancer, author, choreographer, and instructor. She achieved popularity after competing in the popular British television dance contest, Strictly Come Dancing. Also known for her philanthropic efforts, Kristina Rihanoff works closely with a children's charity named The Dot Com Foundation, which helps children handle challenging situations.

Diana Vishneva is a Russian ballerina who is currently associated with the Mariinsky Ballet where she is a principal dancer. Over the years, Vishneva has won several prestigious awards, such as the People's Artist of Russia, State Prize of Russia, and the Golden Mask theatre prize.

Aliona Vilani is a Russian-Kazakh dancer and TV personality best known for appearing as a professional dancer in the BBC series Strictly Come Dancing. She started training in different forms of dance as a child and joined the Kaiser Dance Academy. She later turned professional and appeared in several TV shows. She also performs in stage musicals. 

Mathilde Kschessinska was a Russian ballerina hailing from the Polish noble family Krzesiński. She was the daughter of Feliks Krzesiński, who danced in Saint Petersburg.  As a young woman, she married Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia. She later opened her own ballet school and trained students, such as Margot Fonteyn, Alicia Markova, and André Eglevsky. 

Ten-time Latin Dance Champion Yulia Zagoruychenko had begun dancing at the tender age of 4 and started teaching ballroom dance at age 11. She later stunned audiences with her remarkable performances with her dance partner and husband Riccardo Cocchi. She was named an American by Choice by Carnegie Corporation.

Apart from being a renowned Russian ballerina, Lydia Lopokova was also the wife of well-known economist John Maynard Keynes and was thus known as Lady Keynes. She toured across Europe and America and appeared in plays such as The Lady of the Slipper and Age of Reason.

Born in America, ice dancer Diana Davis, the daughter of skating coach Eteri Tutberidze, was raised in Russia and was the Russian junior national bronze medal winner with her partner Gleb Smolkin. She developed partial hearing loss due to an incorrect dosage of antibiotics and never regained her full sense of hearing.

Popular Russian figure skater Tatiana Navka has not just won the national and European championships thrice but is also a two-time world champion and an Olympic gold medalist. She is also a regular participant on various TV and ice shows and has her own show named the Navka Show.

Best known for her phenomenal performances with partner Ruslan Zhiganshin, retired Russian ice dancer Elena Ilinykh is a former national champion. Though initially trained in single skating, she later moved on to ice dancing. She also has two Olympic medals, including a gold, and three European championship medals in her kitty.

Russian ballet prodigy and the first soloist of the Mariinsky Ballet, Maria Khoreva bagged a Nike endorsement even before graduating from the Vaganova Ballet Academy. She is a popular face on Instagram, too, where she is known as marachok. She has also penned a book named Teach Me Ballet.

Victoria Sinitsina is a Russian ice dancer who won the gold medal at the 2021 World Figure Skating Championships along with her skating partner Nikita Katsalapov. A successful ice dancer, Sinitsina also won gold medals at the 2020 European Championships and 2012 World Junior Championships.

Soviet ballet dancer Lyudmila Vlasova was raised singlehandedly by her mother, who was part of the Red Army Theater. Known for her long stint with the Bolshoi Theater, she was also praised for her performances with her partner and husband Alexander Godunov, a renowned ballet dancer himself.

Anastasia Volochkova is a Russian former prima ballerina who was trained by Natalia Dudinskaya at the prestigious Vaganova Ballet Academy. Volochkova achieved popularity in 1996 when she won the first prize at the Lifar International Ballet Competition. Apart from her career as a dancer, Anastasia Volochkova has also appeared in magazines and works as an actress and model.

Tamara Toumanova was a Georgian-American ballet dancer and actress. She achieved international recognition at a young age when she came to be known as one of the Original Ballet Russe's Baby Ballerinas along with Irina Baronova and Tatiana Riabouchinska. She then performed across Europe and went on to establish herself as an actress, appearing as a dancer in several films. 

Ida Rubinstein was a Russian dancer, art patron, and actress. She is best remembered for performing with the popular itinerant ballet company, the Ballets Russes. She also served as a subject for Russian painter Valentin Alexandrovich Serov's portrait Salomé.

Kseniya Ryabinkina is a Russian ballet dancer and actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Marina, a circus trapeze artiste, in the 1970 classic Bollywood film Mera Naam Joker. In addition to being an actress and ballerina, Kseniya Ryabinkina also mentors young artists and dancers in Russia.

Alexandra Stepanova is a Russian ice dancer who has won three bronze medals and a silver medal at European Championships with Ivan Bukin. She also won the 2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki championship as well as the 2021 Russian national championship. Overall, Stepanova and her skating partner Bukin have won three Finlandia Trophy titles and seven Grand Prix series medals.

Sofya Skya is a Russian ballet dancer, actress, and acting coach. Renowned for her good looks, Skya has won a number of beauty contests and pageants. She also supports various charity organizations and events like Meet For Charity.

Irina Baronova was a Russian actress and ballet dancer whose popularity peaked during the 1930s when she came to be known as one of the Original Ballet Russe's Baby Ballerinas along with Irina Baronova and Tatiana Riabouchinska. In 2005, she appeared in a documentary titled Ballets Russes and also published her autobiography in the same year.

Marina Anissina is a French-Russian ice dancer who represents France in major tournaments, such as the Olympics. She won the gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics and is a six-time French national champion. She has also represented France in European Championships, where she has won two gold medals, two silver medals, and a bronze medal.

Elena Grinenko is a ballroom dancer, instructor, and choreographer. Grinenko is best known for her participation in the popular American dance competition TV series, Dancing with the Stars. As a ballroom dancer, Elena Grinenko competes in national and world Championships.

Tamara Karsavina was a Russian ballet dancer who served as a principal artist at Sergei Diaghilev's popular company The Ballets Russes. Karsavina also taught ballet and is credited with co-founding modern British ballet. After settling in Britain, Tamara Karsavina popularized the dance form in Britain and helped establish The Royal Academy of Dance as well as The Royal Ballet.

The person behind the development of the Vaganova method, Agrippina Vaganova was a significant name in the Russian ballet scene. She also penned Fundamentals of the Classical Dance, which is the most-followed text on ballet. At Mariinsky Ballet, she was known as the queen of variations.

Born in Russia, ballerina Alexandra Danilova later became an American citizen. Best known for her role in the film The Turning Point, she had also taught at the School of American Ballet. She was associated with both the Ballets Russes and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.

Russian ballerina Alina Somova was initially pushed into sports by her mother but later moved to ballet. Now the principal dancer at the Mariinsky Ballet, she has also won many awards, such as a Golden Mask for her performance as the Tsar-Maiden in the ballet The Little Humpbacked Horse.

Best known for her performances with partner Evgeni Platov, competitive ice dancer Oksana Grishuk began figure skating at age 4. She and Platov are three-time European champions and four-time world champions. The duo also has also won two Olympic golds. She is now a coach and has appeared on several TV shows.

Russian ballerina Evgenia Obraztsova is best known for her performances as Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, and as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake. Born into a family of ballet dancers, she joined the Vaganova Academy and then performed as part of the Mariinsky Ballet.  

Nina Kaptsova is a Russian ballet dancer who is currently associated with the internationally acclaimed dance company, Bolshoi Ballet. Over the course of her career, Kaptsova has played various roles in popular ballet acts. She has also won prestigious awards and prizes.

Russian ballerina Ekaterina Maximova is best remembered for her partnership with her husband Vladimir Vasiliev, a star ballet dancer himself. She started her career with performances such as that of Masha in The Nutcracker and served as a prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre for 3 decades.

Tamara Geva was a Russian-born American ballet dancer, choreographer, and actress. The first wife of popular Georgian-American choreographer George Balanchine, Geva was instrumental in Balanchine's success in his early life. Apart from performing with her husband, Tamara Geva also danced in Sergei Diaghilev's popular dance company the Ballet Russes. She also choreographed several popular Broadway shows throughout her illustrious career.

While Olga Lomonosova initially gained fame as a ballerina and also excelled in rhythmic gymnastics, she later ventured into acting. Best known for her performances as Kira Voropayeva in the series Not Born Beautiful and the title role in the film Masha, she has also appeared in the Netflix series Better than Us.

England-born Russian ice dancer Tiffany Zahorski began skating at the age of two, becoming British Novice Solo Dance Champion by the age of eleven and French Novice Solo Dance Champion by the age of fourteen. A Russian citizen since 2016, she  represented Russia in the 2018 Winter Olympics with her partner Jonathan Guerreiro. She won  gold in the 2018 Warsaw Cup and silver in 2020 Rostelecom Cup.   

Best known for her role of Hunyak, the death row prisoner, in the musical Chicago, Ekaterina Shchelkanova is a popular Russian ballerina and actor. She is also the woman behind the Open World Dance Foundation, was part of the American Ballet Theatre, and was part of films such as Center Stage.

Annabelle Morozov is a Russian ice dancer who won the silver medal at the CS Golden Spin of Zagreb in 2019 along with Andrei Bagin. At the 2020 Russian Championships, Morozov and Bagin finished fourth which earned them a place in the 2020 World Championships.

Named Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR, Natalia Bestemianova is a former ice dancer, who partnered with Andrei Bukin to win silver in 1984 Winter Olympics and gold in 1988 Winter Olympics. Also a four-time World champion, five-time European champion and three-time World silver medalist, she became known for her repeated use of Besti Squat, a move unofficially named after her.

Olga Preobrajenska was a Russian ballet dancer who worked at the popular Imperial Russian Ballet. Although she was born with a crooked spine, Preobrajenska went on to pursue her dream of becoming a prima ballerina. Remembered for her turnout and toe point, Preobrajenska exhibited the desired grace of a dancer with ease. She also taught popular ballerinas like Irina Baronova.

Olga Lepeshinskaya is not just remembered for her association with the Bolshoi Theatre but also for her Stalin Prize-winning performance in Flames of Paris. She had also chaired ballet competitions in Moscow. Politically conscious, she also performed for the Red Army soldiers during World War II.

Margarita Drobiazko is a Lithuanian former ice dancer who won bronze medals at the World Figure Skating Championships, European Championships, and Grand Prix Final with her skating partner Povilas Vanagas. She also won the 1999 Skate Canada International event and competed in five Olympic Games, becoming one of the first figure skaters along with Vanagas to participate in five Olympics.  

The first Soviet-trained prima ballerina, Marina Semyonova demonstrated an unusual style of ballet that influenced a generation of dancers. She won the Stalin Prize in 1941 when she was associated with the Bolshoi Theatre. She stayed with the company after retiring and became one of the most prominent teachers. In 1975, Semyonova was named a People's Artist of the USSR.

Ninel Kurgapkina was a Russian ballet dancer and teacher. She is best remembered for her association with the popular classical ballet company the Imperial Russian Ballet where she served as a prima ballerina. From 1969 onwards, she taught at the Imperial Russian Ballet and conducted master classes at several institutions. In 1974, she received the People's Artist of the USSR.

Tatiana Riabouchinska was a ballet dancer and teacher. Riabouchinska achieved popularity at the age of 14 when she became associated with the Original Ballet Russe as one of the three Baby Ballerinas along with Irina Baronova and Tamara Toumanova. Later in her career, Riabouchinska became known as one of the most unusual dancers because of her unique technique and style.