Iana Salenko

After dancing the title role in Cinderella, Salenko became a principal dancer in 2007. As a principal, she danced lead roles in many productions including Swan Lake and The Nutcracker. She originated the role of Aurora in Nacho Duato's reconstruction of The Sleeping Beauty. Her frequent partners include Walter and Daniil Simkin.

Salenko became a soloist at Donetsk Opera and Ballet Theatre after she graduated. Two years later, in order to be closer to her family, she moved to Kiev Ballet as a principal dancer. After meeting her future-husband Marian Walter, Salenko later auditioned for the Berlin State Ballet, where he was based. She was initially rejected by Vladimir Malakhov, the company's director. Diana Vishneva convinced Malakhov to let Salenko to join the company. She was offered a demi-soloist contract in 2005, and became a soloist the following year.

Salenko was born and raised in Kiev, USSR. She has five siblings, and her parents worked in a restaurant. She started with gymnastics and folk dancing. When she was 12, her father took her to a ballet school. Though it was a late start, Salenko began to focus on ballet. In 1995, at age 14, she was invited to attend the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg, but her mother believed it was too far away, so she trained at Vadim Pisarev's school in Donetsk, which is 400 miles away from Kiev. At age 15, became one of Pisarev's dance partner, and danced at his company, Donetsk Opera and Ballet Theatre. She had an eating disorder, which led to her become very weak and injured. Pisarev's sister, who was the director of the school, fed her and took her to therapy, and she soon recovered. She graduated in 2000.

Iana Salenko (Ukrainian: Яна Саленко ; born 19 July 1983) is a Ukrainian-German ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer at the Berlin State Ballet.