Olga Smirnova and Valery Suanov in the Duet of Nastasya Filippovna and Parfyon Semyonovich Rogozhin (World premiere). Music by Giya Kancheli, choreography by Anželika Cholina. Benois de la Danse Charity Gala, shot 22.5.2019, in The Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow.

See all galleries shot at Benois de la Danse 2019

Olga Smirnova (Rus. Ольга Смирнова) was born 1991. She is a Prima Ballerina with the Bolshoi Theatre Ballet company. Born in St Petersburg, Smirnova comes from a family with no connections with ballet. Her mother encouraged her to take up the art at the Vaganova Academy where she studied under Lyudmila Kovaleva. She participated in the academy’s tours across Europe and Japan, performing in the 2004 presentation arranged jointly with the Royal Ballet School. In 2011, immediately after her graduation, she was recruited by the Bolshoi and spent just one day in the corps de ballet before taking on solos. Having joined the company as a soloist, she was promoted to first soloist in her first season and to leading soloist at the end of her second season in 2013. Smirnova made her debut with American Ballet Theatre in 2014.

Valery Suanov (Валерий Суанов) is a choreographer of the Mariinsky Theatre Filial in Vladikavkaz.

Photos by Jack Devant Ballet Photography with kind permission of the Benois de la Danse and Bolshoi Theatre, special thanks to Nina Kudriavtseva-Loory.

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