Ulyana Lopatkina is a prima of the Russian ballet and the holder of the title Divine.
Ulyana Lopatkina was born in Kerch on October 23, 1973.
The girl became very interested in ballet at an early age. She was actually interested in many things: she attended a music school, went in for ballroom dances, did a little bit of gymnastics and studied at a small ballet school.
Ulyana Lopatkina graduated from the Vaganova Ballet Academy in 1991 and the same year joined the troupe of the Mariinsky Theater. While still a student of the Academy, Ulyana became the winner of the International award Vaganova Prix.
In 1994 she successfully debuted with the part of Odetta/Odillia in The Swan Lake and won Gold Floodlight for the best debut on Petersburg stage. Next year Ulyana Lopatkina was appointed the prima ballerina of the Mariinsky Theater.
In her career Ulyana Lopatkina danced on the best-known stages of the world. The Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, the Royal Opera House in London, Grand Opera in Paris, La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Helsinki National Opera and Ballet Theater, and NHK in Tokyo are among them.
Numerous awards and achievements of Ulyana Lopatkina include the rank of the Merited Artiste of Russia (2000) and the People’s Artiste of Russia (2006), as well as the prizes Gold Floodlight, Gold Mask, Divine, Benoit De La Dans, and The Baltic. She is the winner of the London Critics and Journalists Assembly’s Award and the award People of Our City in the nomination Soloist of the Ballet of the Year.