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Svetlana Lunkina


Born in Moscow in 1979, Svetlana Lunkina was once described by former Bolshoi Ballet director Alexei Fadeyechev as "the hope of the company". Physically gifted, beautifully proportioned, and moreover of an exquisite delicacy and femininity; with her fragile, ethereal appearance Svetlana Lunkina seems destined to dance the romantic repertoire.

On that same occasion Fadeyechev envisaged two possible ways of development for the young dancer. Either she could limit herself to the romantic works, or she could attempt to embrace a much wider repertoire and become the next of the Bolshoi's great ballerinas. In her first seasons with the company it seems that Lunkina, confronted with a variety of roles and styles, allowing her to show different facets of her talent, is developing the second way. And, so far, not unsuccessfully so.

After taking folk dance lessons in a local studio, Svetlana Lunkina trained at the Moscow Choreographic Academy with Natalia Savina and Marina Leonova. Upon graduation in 1997 she joined the Bolshoi Ballet, where she was taken under the wings of none else than the great Ekaterina Maximova. With Maximova she started to prepare the role of Giselle after she had been chosen by then Bolshoi director Vladimir Vasiliev to dance the title role in his new production of the ballet. Just 18, Lunkina thus became the youngest Giselle in the history of the company - and the Bolshoi had its new star. Her critically acclaimed performance of Giselle not only highlighted the dancer's lyrical qualities, but also showed her as a fine actress.

Lunkina's dramatic gifts and winning charisma were further revealed in the title role of Vasiliev's Aniuta, based on a story by Chekhov, and created in 1982 on her mentor Maximova. Yet other aspects of her talent were shown when she tackled the role of Kitri in Don Quixote, on her 20th birthday during the Bolshoi Summer 1999 tour in London. Her witty character came alive with fine touches, again looking dramatically quite mature and carefully avoiding cheap effects.

In November 2001 Lunkina featured prominently in the Bolshoi programme dedicated to Roland Petit. She danced the lead in his sophisticated Passacaglia and created the role of Lise at the side of Nikolai Tsiskaridze in Petit's adaptation of Pushkin's The Queen of Spades. Moreover, in February 2003 she was chosen by Petit for the role of Esmeralda in the Bolshoi premiere of his Notre-Dame de Paris. In the beginning of 2003 Lunkina also tackled the much coveted role of Odette-Odile in Swan Lake.

After enjoying maternity leave in 2003/2004, Lunkina successfully returned to the stage in October 2004, widening her repertory with new roles in ballets by Massine, Ratmansky, Balanchine, and Grigorovich. On 25 July 2005, following her performance as Zina in Ratmansky's The Bright Stream at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Svetlana Lunkina was promoted to principal dancer.

Svetlana Lunkina toured worldwide with the Bolshoi Ballet, notably to the UK, the USA and Japan.

For her performance as Masha (Marie) in Yuri Grigorovich's The Nutcracker she was awarded the Benois de la Danse in 2007.


Marc Haegeman


Her repertory includes:

  • title role in Giselle (1997)
  • title role in Aniuta (1998)
  • Kitri in Don Quixote (1999)
  • 1st movement in Symphony in C (2000)
  • Afternoon of a Faun (Robbins) (2000)
  • Aspicia in Pharaoh's Daughter (Lacotte) (2000)
  • Fairy Tenderness in The Sleeping Beauty
  • Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty (2000)
  • Russian Bride in Swan Lake (2001)
  • soloist in Chopiniana
  • The Dying Swan
  • Valse sentimentale-Tchaikovsky (Vasiliev)
  • soloist in Passacaglia (Petit) (2001)
  • Lise in Pique Dame (Petit) (2001)
  • title role in La Sylphide (2002)
  • Odette-Odile in Swan Lake (2003)
  • Esmeralda in Notre-Dame de Paris (Petit) (2003)
  • Phrygia in Spartacus (Grigorovich) (2004)
  • soloist in Gaité parisienne (Massine) (2005)
  • soloist in Les présages (Massine) (2005)
  • soloist in Symphony in C (Balanchine) (2005)
  • Zina in The Bright Stream (Ratmansky) (2005)
  • soloist (cr.) in Jeu de cartes (Ratmansky) (2005)
  • Masha in The Nutcracker (Grigorovich) (2006)
  • Lise in Le Fille mal gardée (Ashton) (2006)
  • soloist (cr.) in Misericordes (Wheeldon) (2007)
  • soloist in Serenade (Balanchine) (2007)
  • Nikiya in La Bayadère (Petipa, staged by Grigorovich) (2007)
  • Medora in Le Corsaire (Petipa, staged by Ratmansky, Burlaka) (2007)
A detailed biography and additional information on Svetlana Lunkina (in Russian and in English) can be found in THE SMALL BALLET ENCYCLOPEDIA

Copyright © 2001-2007
Text and photo of  Svetlana Lunkina Copyright © 2001-2007 Marc Haegeman. All rights reserved.