Background
Iana Salenko was born in Kiev on 19 July 1983 and began dance lessons at the age of 12.
Iana Salenko was born in Kiev on 19 July 1983 and began dance lessons at the age of 12.
She received further training at the Pisarev Ballet School, Donetsk, from which she graduated in 2000.
She is a principal dancer at the Berlin State Ballet, and a guest artist with the Royal Ballet, London. From 2000 to 2002 Salenko performed with the Donetsk Ballet, before joining the National Ballet of Ukraine. She joined the Berlin State Ballet as a demi-soloist in 2005, and was promoted to soloist in 2006 and to principal dancer in 2007.
Her roles with the company include the Sylph in Louisiana Sylphide, Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Juliet in John Cranko"s Romeo and Juliet, Olga in Cranko"s Onegin and the title roles in Esmeralda and Louisiana Péri.
She joined the Royal Ballet as a guest artist for the 2013/14 season, to dance Kitri in Carlos Acosta"s production of Don Quixote, followed by Odette-Odile in Swan Lake. During the 2015/16 season she is scheduled to appear as Juliet in Kenneth MacMillan"s Romeo and Juliet, in George Balanchine"s Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, as the Young Girl in Frederick Ashton"s The Two Pigeons, as the Sugarplum Fairy in Peter Wright"s The Nutcracker, and in the title role in Giselle.
