Anastasia Volochkova is a Russian ballerina who earned the “prima ballerina” title at the peak of her career.
Despite her appearance being like a contestant in beauty pageants, she is even more known for her exceptional talent as well as a strong outspoken personality, referred to as the magic ballerina by the century’s choreographer Yuri Grigorovich.
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Anastasia Volochkova’s Biography
- Birthname: Anastasia Yuryevna Volochkova
- Nationality: Russian
- Born: January 20th, 1976
- Parents: Table tennis champion & coach father and tour guide mother
- Siblings: One sister
- Spouse: Divorced, currently N/A
- Children: One daughter
- Height: 5 feet 8 inches (~172 cm)
- Weight (at the prime of her career): 110 – 121 lbs (50 – 55 kg)
- Net Worth: ~$1 – 1.5 million
- Instagram: volochkova_art
Early Life & Education
The Volochkova family belonged to the middle class and resided in St. Petersburg, Russia.
With her father being a table tennis player & coach and her mother being a tour guide, Volochkova didn’t have any difficulty persuading them to support her dream.
The first time Volochkova knew of ballet was when her mother took her to Mariinsky, where The Nutcracker was showing. The performance truly put the young Anastasia in awe, and she said she wanted to become an accomplished ballerina when she left the theater.
Compared to five-year-old girls, Volochkova didn’t have a ballerina body. Her body was beautiful but not flexible, her legs weren’t long and her movements weren’t agile – but her dream was burning.
She worked hard for it, taking classes and private lessons, anything that could make her better.
Volochkova entered the famous Vaganova Ballet Academy and trained under Natalia Dudinskaya’s supervision. Hard work paid off: she became a soloist while she was still a student, which made her the youngest ever at Mariinsky.
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With Mariinsky Ballet
Volochkova was with the Mariinsky Ballet for four years, from 1994 to 1998. As its soloist, she secured roles in crucial ballets such as Giselle, Don Quixote, Raymonda, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, and more.
In 1993, she debuted as Odette & Odile in Swan Lake and advanced to be the first student to simultaneously be ranked as prima ballerina in Mariinsky’s history. It was expected that she would receive an honored diploma.
The Mariinsky Ballet also gave the young Volochkova several tour opportunities, including Britain Island, France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, and other European countries.
In 1995, Volochkova had her American debut, followed by performances in a few Asian countries where ballet gained decent attention: Japan, South Korea, and Bahrain.
The next year, Volochkova participated in the Lifar International Ballet Competition and won the gold medal and first prize all at once.
With Bolshoi Ballet
Being a talented and ambitious ballerina, Volochkova chose the Bolshoi Ballet as her next destination. She joined as a prima ballerina, guided by the internationally acclaimed Ekaterina Maximova.
Bolshoi offered the same opportunities Mariinsky did, including abroad tours and grand productions of Swan Lake, Raymonda, The Sleeping Beauty, and Giselle. When Bolshoi Ballet performed at the Kenny Center, Volochkova also took the headlines.
In 2001, she was personally invited by the famed Yury Grigorovich to come back and take the double role of Odette & Odile. This successful performance earned Volochkova a few rewards within the same year.
The Bolshoi Trouble
Since “Bolshoi” means “big” in English, it was like an ironic wordplay when the company fired Volochkova for being too large and heavy in size that the male dancers had a tough time lifting her.
That was when the criticism became harder on Volochkova. The media didn’t miss the chance to bring up how vain and ambitious she appeared to them, saying her looks outshined her talents.
However, both parties revealed more thoughts from their side over time. It started with Volochkova declaring that she hadn’t touched any meat since she was a child learning her first ballet steps, yet she couldn’t give up on ice cream.
A spokeswoman for Bolshoi responded that the problem was that Volochkova refused to sign the contract offered to her because it was only a third of the regular one-year deal without fixed schedules for her.
Volochkova’s demand to have 3 out of every 5 performances was simply impossible for the company to accept.
The Moscow court gave the final verdict that Volochkova must be reinstated and compensated thousands of grand. The situation ended up with Bolshoi still being Volochkova’s company legally, but they have not assigned any performance to her since 2004.
It wasn’t a pleasant experience for anyone. Volochkova knew she had two choices: being scared of the ballet world forever or keeping up and putting her name out there again.
Solo Dancer
In the 1990s, the name Volochkova was one of the most popular names among Russian ballet dancers. Hence, she was in the perfect position to begin a solo career and she did exactly what she should.
She has performed for prestigious companies in other countries, like Bordeaux Ballet, New National Theatre Ballet Tokyo, and English National Ballet.
She retained the prima ballerina title when dancing with Russian companies like Grigorovich Ballet and Hermitage Ballet.
The list of recitals and gala stages Volochkova had during this era was even longer, with theaters and opera houses in Moscow, London, Paris, Athens, Abu Dhabi, Tel Aviv, and many more.
Among these cities, London perhaps had the deepest connection with Volochkova because a lot of headline performances by her were associated with this place. The legendary Maya Plisetskaya personally directed the title role in Carmen for her, a pleasure no one else received.
Valochkova had two tours in 2010: Nine Stories of Love (joint with Alex Luna) and The Tales of Destiny (a Chile tour). Aside from choreographers and musicians, she was supported by dancers from Mariinsky and Bolshoi.
A Media Personality
With the appearance of a participant in beauty contests, Volochkova was sometimes criticized for the discrepancy between her looks and her talents.
However, it is impossible to deny that her appearance gave her different opportunities off the ballet stage, such as film projects and modeling contracts.
In 2011, she gave up her membership in the United Russia because she didn’t accept their suggestion to sign the condemnation of Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
She got involved with the oligarchs on the news again in 2013 when she cited that ballerina in Bolshoi and many other companies had no choice but to have illicit affairs with oligarchs, or they would face abandonment and elimination from activities.
Personal Life
Volochkova got married to businessman Igor Vdovin two years after they had a daughter together and divorced the year after.
Their separation wasn’t peaceful as Volochkova didn’t hesitate to share the details about the downfall of their relationship in several interviews following her divorce.
Both Vdovin and Volochkova claimed that they didn’t officially sign or have an actual wedding, and the ceremony known to the press was merely a performance.
She is currently living with her daughter Ariadne, alternating between Moscow and Saint Petersburg. With her past experiences, Volochkova is now in no hurry for another relationship.
Awards
The gold medal and first prize Volochkova won at the Serge Lifar International Ballet Competition marked the first time she attempted the competitive scene.
Her excellent double role in Swan Lake was awarded with the Prix Benois de la Danse in 2002. It is an annual ballet competition judged by the most respected contemporary dancers and choreographers.
Other awards given to Volochkova:
- The Best Young Ballerina in Europe (The Golden Lion, 2000)
- Honored Artist of Russia (2002)
Anastasia Volochkova Nowadays
In Russia, Volochkova has become a celebrity with more public attention on her every move than a common baller dancer. It is a big reason why her Instagram account still accumulated about 1.4 million followers as of 2024.
Nonetheless, Volochkova has officially retired, saying she has a deep respect for ballerinas who could step on the stage regardless of age, but she would rather be remembered as young and pretty.
It came as a surprise to many people who only knew her as a ballerina when she pursued higher education in Economics and pocketed an MBA degree.
Explaining her choice, Volochkova said she wants to apply what she has learned to a network of institutions for various forms of art.
Bottom Lines
One could say Anastasia Volochkova was lucky enough to be born with looks and talents, yet it is undeniable that she has worked so hard and overcome great challenges thrown her way as well.
She is a role model of a bold and courageous personality, proven by how she remained steady and stable after all the controversies. Despite what the critics said, her outspoken virtue appeals to many people, as it might truly make a difference.