Svetlana Zakharova is the People's Artiste of Russia (2008) and winner of the State Award of Russian Federation (2006). The ballerina was a deputy of the RF State Duma of the 4th and 5th convocations. She is the spouse of the renowned violinist Vadim Repin.
Ballerina for All Roles
"All dancing styles, from classics to modernist style are within the power of Svetlana Zakharova. She is a ballerina for all roles. All along her career Svetlana Zakharova has remained a true star, one of the best ballerinas of the world", - the head of the Bolshoi Theatre's ballet troupe, Makhar Vaziyev states.
Svetlana Zakharova was born in Lutsk on June 10, 1979. In 1989 she entered the Kiev choreographic school, where she studied under Valeria Sulegina for six years. In 1995 the dancer participated in Vaganova-Prix, a ballet competition of the Vaganova Ballet Academy and won the second prize and the offer to shift to the Academy, to the final year of studies at once. In 1996 Svetlana Zakharova graduated from the Academy and was admitted to the troupe of the Mariinsky Theater, where Olga Moiseyeva became her tutor. Already in the next season the aspiring ballerina reached the position of the theater's soloist.
In 2003 Svetlana Zakharova shifted to the Bolshoi Theatre, where she worked under the leadership of Lyudmila Semenyaka.
In April, 2008 Svetlana Zakharova became the prima-ballerina of La Scala Theatre in Milan.
She has performed in Moscow, St. Petersburg, London, Berlin, Paris, Vienna, Milan, Madrid, Tokyo, Baku, New York, Amsterdam, and other cities around the world. The ballerina has been engaged in performances of the classical and modern repertoire.
In 2013, being unwilling to dance not in the first string, Svetlana Zakharova refused to participate in the last premiere of the Bolshoi Theatre's 237th season — John Kranko's ballet "Onegin". The conflict with her is often referred to as one of the reasons for firing the theater's director, Anatoly Iksanov. In 2014 she participated in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Sochi, where she danced the part of Natasha Rostova from Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace.
In recent years the ballerina has again returned to the Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow and starred in the largest performances, such as The Hero of Our Time, Lady with Camellias, and Legend of Love, which have repeatedly gained her the so-called "ballet Oscar" - the international award Benoit De La Dans.
Svetlana Zakharova is married to Vadim Repin (born in 1971), a violinist, and has a daughter named Anna (born in 2011).