Anastasia Volochkova

She has been outspoken against the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 2014, and stated that, for her, Crimea would always be a part of Ukraine.

In 2013, Volochkova compared Bolshoi Ballet to a brothel, citing that ballerinas were forced to have sex with the oligarchs, or, upon refusal, they would be expelled from the school or be banned from international tours.

In 2011, after being part of the United Russia party for eight years, she quit its membership. In an interview with Radio Liberty she said that she decided to quit the party after United Russia had duped her into signing condemnation of the imprisoned oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

In 2010, Volochkova graduated with an MBA from the Higher School of Economics. "I plan to create a network of schools of creative education, which will teach the choreography, visual arts, music and ethics", she has said regarding her future plans.

As of 2010, Volochkova starred in her first tour of Chile, performing in Santiago, Antofagasta, La Serena, Viña del Mar, Talca, Temuco, Puerto Montt and Concepción. The Tales of Destiny show included fragments and highlights of some of the most famous ballets, including Don Quixote, Giselle and Swan Lake, as well as contemporary choreographies set to music by Nino Rota, Charles Dumont, Ara Gevorgyan and Karl Jenkins. In the show, Volochkova was supported by principal dancers and soloists of both the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Ballets.

Volochkova was born into a middle-class family in Saint Petersburg. Her father was a table tennis champion and coach, and her mother was a tour guide. Volochkova has been married once, and she has a daughter, Ariadna, born in 2005. They live in Saint Petersburg and Moscow.

After various disagreements with the Bolshoi Ballet over the years, Volochkova's contract was terminated in 2003. It became a major news story worldwide as it was reported that the Bolshoi Ballet had dismissed her for being too tall and heavy. A Moscow court ruled that the Bolshoi Ballet had to reinstate Volochkova immediately and awarded her thousands of US dollars in back pay and damages. Although the Bolshoi Ballet is officially Volochkova's employer, she has not been offered a single role by the company since 2004.

n 2003 it was reported that the Bolshoi Ballet had dismissed her for being too heavy and tall. Russian Minister of Culture Mikhail Shvydkoy had suggested her to accept lesser roles, such as minor part in Swan Lake, to which Volochkova responded: "I have played the leading role in nearly every classical ballet. Legally I should be reinstated into the same position as I was in before". In 2004 Volochkova filed a $1million dollar lawsuit against her former manager Anatoly Iksanov, claiming harm to her personal and professional reputation. She stated that "Ballet is not an art of kilograms; it is an art of the soul". The court found for her and awarded $6,400.

From 1998 to 2000, Volochkova danced as prima ballerina with the Bolshoi Ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, guided by Ekaterina Maximova. Volochkova performed in productions of Giselle, La Bayadère, Raymonda, Russian Hamlet, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty, touring throughout Europe as well. Additionally, she also headlined a performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the USA. In 2001, Yury Grigorovich personally invited her to return to the Bolshoi Ballet to dance the double-role of Odette-Odile in Swan Lake at the Bolshoi Theatre, for which Volochkova was awarded the prestigious Prix Benois de la Danse in 2002. In the same year, she was also awarded with the title of Honoured Artist of Russia.

Between 1994 and 1998, Volochkova danced as a soloist with the Mariinsky Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, performing in productions of Don Quixote, Giselle, La Bayadère, Le Corsaire, Raymonda, Scheherazade, The Firebird, The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty. Together with the Mariinsky Ballet, she also got to tour all around the world, including Great Britain, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Bahrain, South Korea, Japan, Canada and the United States, making her US debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1995.

Volochkova was trained at the prestigious Vaganova Ballet Academy by Natalia Dudinskaya. Still a student, Volochkova became the youngest soloist of the Mariinsky Ballet, making her debut as Odette-Odile in Swan Lake at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1993. She was a prima ballerina and student at the same time, the first in the history of the Mariinsky. The following year, she received her diploma with honours, and became a soloist of the Mariinsky Ballet. In 1996, Volochkova won the first prize and gold medal at the 2nd Lifar International Ballet Competition in Kiev.

Once described as one of the biggest names in Russian ballet, Volochkova started her solo career in the late 1990s. She has since danced with the New National Theatre Ballet Tokyo, the Bordeaux Ballet and the English National Ballet. In Russia, Volochkova has danced as prima ballerina with the Hermitage Ballet and the Grigorovich Ballet, performing in Giselle, La Bayadère, Le Corsaire, Spartacus and Swan Lake. With the Grigorovich Ballet, she has mainly performed at the Krasnodar Theater, but also among others at the Mariinsky Theatre.

Anastasia Volochkova (Russian: Анастасия Волочкова ; born 20 January 1976) is a Russian prima ballerina.