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Our guest on 13.03.2011 Polina Semionova, Ballet Dancer

Our host Peter Craven talks to Polina Semionova about the world of ballet, life as a foreigner in Berlin, and overcoming the fear of flying through skydiving.

https://p.dw.com/p/R8Pw

Polina Semionova is living the dream of countless young girls the world over: she’s the principal dancer at the Berlin State Ballet and gives guest performances in cities across the world. But the path to stardom wasn’t always an easy one for the celebrated soloist.

Polina Semionova was born in Moscow in 1984 as the middle child of a musical family. Her younger sister is a pianist. Polina and her older brother started in figure skating classes at a young age, but soon switched to ballet. At age 8, she was admitted to the legendary Bolshoi Ballet Academy, despite reservations on the part of the school whether she had the right body type for professional ballet. From that day on, her life was devoted to dance. At age 16, she entered the Moscow International Ballet Competition – again overcoming reservations on the part of the academy’s director – and won. In 2002, she graduated from the Academy with high honors.

Vladimir Malakhov recruited the 17-year-old as principal dancer at the Berlin State Ballet, making her the youngest prima ballerina in Germany at age 18.