Anna Nikulina

Anna Nikulina (; born 23 March 1985) is a principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, Russia. Her first lead role was Odette-Odile in Swan Lake in 2004 at the age of 19. She has toured both internationally and within Russia. Her répétiteur (rehearsal coach) as of 2021 is , a former Kirov principal. In previous years her répétiteurs have been the important Russian dancers Ekaterina Maximova, , and Ludmila Semenyaka. She graduated in 2002 with honors from the Moscow State Academy of Choreography.

She has worked with Russian choreographer Yury Grigorovich in performance of his productions. In late 2021 when Grigorovich received an artistic award but could not travel due to pandemic restrictions, Nikulina accepted the award on his behalf.

Tours

She has appeared in lead roles with the Bolshoi on tour in New York City (2014), Washington DC, Los Angeles, Sydney Australia, Hong Kong, and London. As visiting artist she has led shows with the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma in Rome (2018), and Israel.

In Russia, where the Bolshoi and the Ministry of Culture support the touring of soloists to major cities within the Federation, she has appeared with the ballet companies of Kazan (2011), Samara (2014), Ufa (2015), Chelyabinsk (2011, 2015), Saratov (2016), and Novosibirsk (2019).

Alluding to the various endings of Swan Lake, she remarked in an interview that, “You never know what to expect from the Swan. In Moscow they kill me, in Kazan I am happy with the prince, but here, in Chelyabinsk, I am left alone on the lake."

Roles (Year of first performance)

Awards 2004: Youth Grant Russia prize "Triumph" 2010: Golden Lyre Award, for workers of culture and art 2018: Merited Artist of the Russian Federation 2022: "Soul of Dance" Prize ("The Star" nomination), The Ballet Magazine