Svetlana Lunkina was born in Moscow, Russia and trained at the Moscow Choreographic Academy in Russia. Svetlana joined the Bolshoi Ballet in 1997 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2005. In 2013, she joined The National Ballet of Canada as a Principal Guest Artist and became a Principal Dancer with the company in 2014.
Svetlana is a respected international artist who shines equally in contemporary work and the great classical ballets. Recently, she performed in the Canadian premiere of James Kudelka’s Passion, acquired in honour of Principal Dancer Piotr Stanczyk’s retirement. Her repertoire with the National Ballet includes principal roles in Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker, Onegin, La Sylphide, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Winter’s Tale, Manon, Nijnsky, Anna Karenina, Le Petit Prince, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Four Temperaments, Apollo, Approximate Sonata 2016, MADDADDAM, Chroma, Genus, Emergence, Angels’ Atlas, Suite en Blanc, After the Rain, On Solid Ground and The Dreamers Ever Leave You.
Over her 15 year career at The Bolshoi Ballet, Svetlana danced many leading roles in both classical and contemporary ballets. Her repertoire includes principal roles in Swan Lake, La Bayadère, Raymonda, Spartacus, Don Quixote, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Giselle, La Sylphide, Le Corsaire, Carmen and La Fille du Pharon. She also danced featured roles in Serenade, Jewels, Afternoon of a Faun and Chroma. In 2002, Alexander Grant set the role of Lise in La Fille mal gardée on her. Svetlana has also worked extensively with Roland Petit, who set the roles of Lisa in La dame de Pique and Esmeralda in Notre Dame de Paris on her. In 2008, Petit updated his ballet La Rose Malade especially for her.
Svetlana is in demand as a guest artist at ballet companies around the world including the Berlin State Opera, Vienna State Opera, Teatro dell Opera in Rome, Paris Opéra Ballet, Kirov Ballet, Bavarian State Ballet, Bucharest National Ballet, Polish National Opera, the National Ballet of Japan and Asami Maki Ballet Tokyo.
In 2023, Svetlana was the recipient of the David Tory Award. Her many awards include the Triumph Youth Award in 2001, Prix de Benois de la Danse in 2007, Brilliance of the 21st Century in 2008 and Ballerina of the Decade in 2010. Svetlana appeared in the film St. Petersburg-Cannes Express by John Daly in 2003.
