Svetlana Lunkina est née à Moscou, en Russie, et a été formée à la Moscow Choreographic Academy, en Russie. Svetlana s’est jointe au Ballet du Bolchoï en 1997 et y a été promue première danseuse en 2005. C’est en 2013 qu’elle intègre Le Ballet national du Canada à titre de première artiste invitée avant d’y devenir danseuse étoile en 2014.
Svetlana is a respected international artist who shines equally in contemporary work and the great classical ballets. Recently, she debuted in Wayne McGregor’s MADDADDAM. 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, Nijinsky, Anna Karenina, Le Petit Prince, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Four Temperaments, Apollo, Approximate Sonata 2016, Chroma, Genus, Emergence, Angels’ Atlas, 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 est très demandée en tant qu’artiste invitée auprès des compagnies de ballet partout au monde, notamment le Berlin State Opera, le Vienna State Opera, le Teatro dell Opera de Rome, le Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris, le Ballet de Kirov, le Bavarian State Ballet, le Bucharest National Ballet, le Polish National Opera et le National Ballet of Japan et Asami Maki Ballet Tokyo.
In 2023, Svetlana was the recipient of the David Tory Award. Parmi ses nombreuses récompenses se retrouvent le Triumph Youth Award en 2001, le prix Benois de la danse en 2007, le prix Brilliance of the 21st Century en 2008 et le prix Ballerina of the Decade en 2010. Svetlana appeared in the film St. Petersburg-Cannes Express by John Daly in 2003.
