1. Anastasia Yuryevna Volochkova is a former Russian ballet dancer.
24 Facts About Anastasia Volochkova
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Anastasia Volochkova's father was a table tennis champion and coach, and her mother was a tour guide.
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Anastasia Volochkova was five years old, when her mother took her to see The Nutcracker at the Mariinsky Theatre.
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Anastasia Volochkova was trained at the prestigious Vaganova Ballet Academy by Natalia Dudinskaya.
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Still a student, Anastasia Volochkova became the youngest soloist of the Mariinsky Ballet, making her debut as Odette-Odile in Swan Lake at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1993.
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Anastasia Volochkova was a prima ballerina and student at the same time, the first in the history of the Mariinsky.
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In 1996, Anastasia Volochkova won the first prize and gold medal at the 2nd Lifar International Ballet Competition in Kyiv.
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Between 1994 and 1998, Anastasia Volochkova danced as a soloist with the Mariinsky Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, performing in productions of Don Quixote, Giselle, La Bayadere, Le Corsaire, Raymonda, Scheherazade, The Firebird, The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty.
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From 1998 to 2000, Anastasia Volochkova danced as leading soloist with the Bolshoi Ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, guided by Ekaterina Maximova.
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Anastasia Volochkova performed in productions of Giselle, La Bayadere, Raymonda, Russian Hamlet, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty, touring throughout Europe as well.
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In 2001, Yury Grigorovich personally invited her to return to the Bolshoi Ballet to dance the double-role of Odette-Odile in Swan Lake at the Bolshoi Theatre, for which Anastasia Volochkova was awarded the prestigious Prix Benois de la Danse in 2002.
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Once described as one of the biggest names in Russian ballet, Anastasia Volochkova started her solo career in the late 1990s.
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Anastasia Volochkova has since danced with the New National Theatre Ballet Tokyo, the Bordeaux Ballet and the English National Ballet.
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In Russia, Anastasia Volochkova has danced as prima ballerina with the Hermitage Ballet and the Grigorovich Ballet, performing in Giselle, La Bayadere, Le Corsaire, Spartacus and Swan Lake.
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In New York, Anastasia Volochkova has performed at the Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
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In 2010, Anastasia Volochkova formed a tandem with Ukrainian countertenor Alex Luna and organise a joint tour "Nine Stories of Love".
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Anastasia Volochkova has supported a secondary school in Saint Petersburg, for example, with a benefit performance at Sadler's Wells Theatre in London.
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Anastasia Volochkova appeared in the first season of ice show contest Ice Age.
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Anastasia Volochkova has been married once, and she has a daughter, Ariadna, born in 2005.
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In 2010, Anastasia Volochkova graduated with an MBA from the Higher School of Economics.
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Anastasia Volochkova is a celebrity in Russia, and has featured in newspapers, magazines, and TV shows, such as Ice Age, on a regular basis.
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In 2004, Anastasia Volochkova filed a $1million dollar lawsuit against her former manager Anatoly Iksanov, claiming harm to her personal and professional reputation.
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Anastasia Volochkova stated that "Ballet is not an art of kilograms; it is an art of the soul".
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Anastasia Volochkova has been outspoken against the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 2014, and stated that, for her, Crimea would always be a part of Ukraine.