Svetlana Zakharova

Svetlana Zakharova was born in Lutsk, in the Ukraine, on 10 June 1979. From the age of six she went to a local dance studio, where she practised among others folk dancing, but no ballet. At the ageof ten she joined the Kiev Choreographic School where she trained mainly with Valeria Sulegina.

In 1995, having finished six years at the Kiev School, Svetlana entered the International YoungDancers' Competition in St. Petersburg. She won second prize with her performance of Princess Florine in the Blue Bird Pas de Deux from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty, the variation from Balanchine'sTchaikovsky Pas de Deux and the 1st variation from Paquita.

Following the competition she was allowed to continue her training at the Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg. Instead of the expected secondcourse, she was admitted directly to the third, the graduating course (in the class of Yelena Yevteyeva, the distinguished Kirov ballerina of the previous generation). While still a student at theVaganova Academy Svetlana performed the Shades Act of La Bayadиre, Masha in The Nutcracker, the Queen of the Dryads in Don Quixote, and Dying Swan on the stage of the Mariinsky Theatre.

In June 1996Svetlana graduated from the Vaganova Academy, performing Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux. She immediately joined the Mariinsky Ballet. She was just 17. A year later she was promoted to principaldancer.

In the Mariinsky company Svetlana was taken under the experienced wings of Olga Moiseyeva, with whom she would build a lasting rapport. Preparing all the new roles with her, Moiseyevaquickly became the key-figure in Svetlana's artistic development.

Svetlana was soon singled out as one the of most cherished young ballerinas of the Mariinsky. Major assignments succeeded each otherrapidly and during the seven seasons that she danced with the Mariinsky she learned the bulk of the company's repertory, ranging from the great classical roles like Giselle, Odette-Odile in Swan Lake,...