Anastasia Volochkova

    Biografy:

Anastasia Volochkova was born in Leningrad in 1976. Dancing was her calling from an early age and eventually led her to the Vaganova Academy of Russian

Ballet. Once there, she was noticed by the remarkable Russian ballerina and teacher Natalia Mikhailovna Dudinskaya. Being a student of Natalia’s class, Anastasia had successful stage debuts at the Mariinsky and Bolshoi Theatres.

During her last term in the Academy she became a probationer in the Mariinsky Theatre and performed parts in the Mistress of Dryads (Don Quixote) and Odette-Odile (Swan Lake).

Her successful debut in Swan Lake and then her subsequent final exam brought her a diploma with honors in 1994 and opened for her the doors of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint-Petersburg. Over the next four years Anastasia was rapidly building her ballerina’s repertoire. Her roles included: title roles in Raymonda, Giselle, The Firebird, Nikiya (La Bayadere), the Lilac Fairy, the Mistress of the Dryads (The Sleeping Beauty), Marie (The Nutcracker), Kitri (Don Quixote), Medora (Le Corsaire), Zobeide (Sheherazade), Zarema (The Fountain of Bakhchiseray). Also in that time, Olga Moiseeva, Tatiana Terehova, and Inna Zubkovskaya became her theatre teachers. With the troupe of the Mariinsky Theatre she was touring throughout the USA, Great Britain, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Norway, Bahrain, Canada, and while abroad she was constantly noticed by countless people, audiences, and critics.

In 1998 she was invited to the Bolshoi Theatre. In March of that year she made her debut as the Swan-Queen in Vladimir Vasiliev’s version of Swan Lake. That role was followed by a great number of leading parts in other famous ballets. In regards to classic repertoire the first to mention are the works of Marius Petipa. She performed the part of Nikiya in Yuri Grigorovich’s version of La Bayadere, the title role in Grigorovich’s version of Raymonde, in addition to the Lilac Fairy in Grigorovich’s version of The Sleeping Beauty; the title role in Vladimir Vasiliev’s version of Giselle, and Kitri in choreographer Alexander Gorski and Aleksey Fadeechev’s version of Don Quixote. She took part in modern ballets as well - the first performer to play the Tsar-Maiden in choreographer Nikolai Androsov and composer Rodion Shchedrin’s The Humpbacked Horse, and The Empress in choreographer Boris Eifman’s The Russian Hamlet.

Anastasia Volochkova performed throughout Europe with the Bolshoi Theatre. During those years she started doing her own solo tours. In the fall of 1998 after accepting the invitation of Natalia Dudinskaya, Anastasia took part in the stage production of Giselle in Tokyo with the New National Ballet troupe. In December 2000 she danced the part of Aurora on the first nights of The Sleeping Beauty with the Bordeaux Ballet (France).

Anastasia Volochkova gradually created her own solo concert program. It all started with her participation in the 1996 Serge Lifar International Ballet Contest in Kiev. For the contest, she was required to perform a modern dance. That's how The Death of the Gods came about. A dance about a “Vila”, a fairy-like spirit from ancient mythology, set to music by Henry Purcell, and choreographed by Edvald Smirnov. This number went on to become very popular, and during that time this ballerina frequently included it in her programs. That year in Kiev, Anastasia became a laureate of the Lifars Contest and received a gold medal.

After that, Anastasia immersed herself in concert activities and devoted most of her time to them. Her solo program expanded rapidly. It was created while working with choreographers from several different countries: Edvald Smirnov, Aleksandr Ursulyak, Yury Hisamov, Dmitry Bryantsev, Midy El Gohary, Renato Zanella, Tony Powell, Vladimir Angelov, Dana Tai Soon, Hose Antonio, Val Caniparoli, and Kennet Gref. Her program also included classic masterpieces of Russian ballet-masters - Mikhail Fokin, Marius Petipa, and such classics of the XX century as John Noimayer and Frederick Ashton. She performed, often charitably, in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Saratov, Riga, Kiev, Donetsk, Kharkov, Lvov,Odessa, Rostov, Tver, Perm, Voronezh, Dnepropetrovsk, Minsk, Krasnodar, as well as in Paris, Athens, Goteborg, Lausanne, Sofia, and New York. In July 2002 Anastasia Volochkova revealed her concert program on the stage of the International Art Festival in Spoletto, Italy.

The concert programs of Anastasia Volochkova were recorded many times by top Russian TV companies and broadcasted on Eurovision. Money from charity concerts was spent on the reconstruction of the Svyato-Troitskaya Church (the first Orthodox church in Saint-Petersburg) and was also given to the orphanages of Saint-Petersburg, to the Beslan Victims Fund, etc.

In spring 2000 Anastasia Volochkova took part in the ballet competition in Sen-Polten, Austria, and won the Golden Lion award - as "the most talented ballerina in Europe."

In 2000 she left the Bolshoi Theatre.

Ballerina was invited to dance in The Sleeping Beauty ballet with the English National Ballet. The famous choreographer Derek Dean re-created specially for Anastasia the Carabosse Fairy, enlarging her role until it eventually became the lead part in the ballet. The event was performed on the stage of the Royal Albert Hall and went on to be an important cultural engagement in London. In addition, the appearance of this Russian ballerina was often discussed in the media.

Following this great interest was her London tour in 2001, when a concert program (with the Russian Ballet Theatre led by Vyacheslav Gordeev) was accompanied by the appearance of Volochkova in a Carmen-Suite set to the music of Geoge Bizet - Rodion Shchedrin, choreography - Albert Alonso. The famous ballet from the repertoire of the Bolshoi Theatre, staged especially for Maya Plisetskaya, was handed down with her permission to Anastasia Volochkova.

In 2001 the choreographer Yuri Grigorovich forced the directorate of the Bolshoi Theatre to invite Anastasia Volochkova to dance in Swan Lake. The return of the ballerina as Odette-Odile in March 2001 made a remarkable commotion throughout the press, which only made her popularity soar and added to the success of her future projects in Russia. The wave of public interest in Anastasia Volochkova has traveled far beyond the confines of the ballet world and has spread out to areas far and wide.

In September 2001 Anastasia Volochkova got «Petropol Prize » — «For constant search in the field of art and renaissance of ballet concert traditions».

In April 2002 Anastasia became laureate of «Benois de la Danse», the prize which is awarded seasonally by international jury for the best work in the field of ballet, that work for Anastasia was a part of Odette-Odile «Swan Lake» staged in Bolshoi Theatre.

That year Anastasia Volochkova was also given the rank of Honoured Artist of Russia.

    Her ballet repertoire includes:

  • 'Swan Lake''
  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    Choreography: Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, revised choreography and stage direction: Konstantin Sergeyev

    Odette-Odille

  • "The Sleeping Beauty''
  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    Choreography: Marius Petipa

    Princess Aurora

  • ''Giselle''
  • Adolphe Adam

    Choreography: Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa

    Giselle, Myrtha

  • "Don Quixote"
  • Ludwig Minkus

    Choreography: Alexander Gorsky

    Kitri

  • "Le Corsair''
  • Adolphe Adam, Cesare Pugni, Leo Delibes, Riccardo Drigo and Pavel Oldenburgsky

    Choreography: Pyotr Gusev

    Medora, Gulnara

  • "La Bayadère"
  • Ludwig Minkus

    Choreography: Marius Petipa

    Nikia

  • "The Dying Swan"
  • Camille Saint-Saëns

    Choreography: Mikhail Fokine

  • "The Nutcracker"
  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    Choreography: Vasiliy Vainonen

    Masha

  • "Raymonda"
  • Aleksandr Glazunov

    Choreography: Marius Petipa, revised version: Konstantin Sergeyev with choreographic fragments: Fedor Lopukhov

    Raymonda

  • "The Firebird"
  • Igor Stravinsky

    Choreography: Mikhail Fokine

    Firebird

  • "Schéhérazade"
  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

    Choreography: Mikhail Fokine

    Zobeide

  • "Spartacus"
  • Aram Khachaturyan

    Choreography: Yury Grigorovich

    Aegina