Polina Semionova wins
Prix Benois de la Danse

Polina Semionova, Guest Principal at the Mikhailovsky Theatre, has won the Benois de la Danse prize. The jury announced its decision on the evening of 27 May. Polina was unable to receive the prestigious award in person at the Bolshoi Theatre as she is fully occupied with the American Ballet Theatre, which is now at the height of its season. One of the most talented representatives of the Russian ballet school, she is currently in New York where, according to Gazeta. ru, she is “the object of rapturous acclaim from American ballet fans.” Polina’s admirers in Russia are no less ardent, and they greatly value the opportunity of seeing her on the St. Petersburg stage. Many of them have made the journey to the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg especially for performances of Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, and La Bayadère, featuring their favourite ballerina.

Quite recently, in April, Polina Semionova twice danced her signature role — Nikiya in La Bayadère — at the Mikhailovsky. Here are some reactions from her admirers following those performances in April: “All live nerve at the beginning, Polina was transformed in the ‘shadows’, becoming impassive, intangible — there was nothing that could either distress her or make her happy. And I thought to myself: now that is real art!” “Polina’s eyes, her shoulders, and the curve of her arms always form a single line. Polina is one of today’s leading ballerinas.”

Critics added their own opinions to the delighted reactions of the audience. Kommersant remarked that the ballerina’s defining trait “is an astute mastery of character development as well as reciprocation of her stage partners’ emotional cues, a skill hard to come by in modern theatre.”

We are pleased to inform all of Polina Semionova’s admirers that she will be appearing at the Mikhailovsky Theatre in September 2014 in two gems from the repertoire of Russian classical ballet: Swan Lake and Giselle.