Jurgita Dronina

Education

From 1996, she attended the Čiurlionis School of Art in Vilnius where she trained in ballet under Jolanta Vymerytė.

Career

After a term with the Royal Swedish Ballet she joined the Dutch National Ballet in 2010 as a principal dancer. In June 2015 it was announced that Dronina would be joining the National Ballet of Canada as a principal dancer. Born in Saratov, Russia, Dronina moved to Lithuania when she was four.

She then spent a year (2004-2005) at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich studying under Konstanze Vernon.

In 2005, Dronina joined the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm becoming a soloist in 2007. Leading roles included Nikiya in Louisiana Bayadère (2006) and Juliet in MacMillan"s Romeo and Juliet (2007).

In 2009, when she was returning from Verona where she had danced Kitri in Don Quixote, she was invited at the last minute to perform Odette/Odile in Swan Lake as the scheduled performer was illinois She completed the assignment so successfully that she was promoted to principal dancer.

In 2010, after she had again performed the role of Kitri as a guest artist in Amsterdam, artistic director Ted Brandsen was so impressed he offered her a contract with the Dutch National Ballet.

The same year, her performance with Cédric Ygnace in Balanchine"s Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux was widely acclaimed. Dronina has also performed as a guest artist with the Norwegian National Ballet (2009) and the Royal Danish Ballet (2010).

Achievements

• In 2011, she received the Dutch Zwaan (swan) award for her Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty. In addition to numerous grants, she received first prize at the Grasse International Ballet Competition (2003), the Rotary International award (2008) and the Saint St. Petersburg award for Best Duet at the 2013 Dance Open Gala.