Irina Kolesnikova
Irina Kolesnikova (born 1980) is a Russian ballet dancer. She graduated from the Vaganova Ballet Academy in 1998, class of Elvira Korkorina, and after being rejected by the Kirov and Mikhailovsky Theatre, she joined the St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre of Konstantin Tachkin.
With this corps, she has toured internationally, playing the title role in Giselle, and Odette/Odile in Swan Lake. Other roles in her repertoire include Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, Masha in The Nutcracker, lead dancer in Legend of Love. In September 2007 she danced Sheherezade for the first time at the Gala des Etoiles in Paris, partnered by Dmitri Semionov. Her coaches include Honoured Artists of Russia Alla Osipenko and Lubov Kunakova.
Awards
Kolesnikova has been successful in many international competitions, winning a gold medal at Prague 2002, the Natalia Makarova Prize and silver medal at Arabesque 2002 in Perm, and a silver medal at the Japanese International and Modern Dance Competition in 2005. In the same year, she was nominated for Best Female Dancer in Britain's National Dance Awards, after a single performance of Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall.
See also
External links
- Kolesnikova's website
- Profile in Dance magazine, June 2006.
- Review of Swan Lake, The Stage, 16 January 2007.
- Review of Giselle, Iafrica, 29 March 2007.