Polina Semionova to Appear as Guest Artist with ABT for 2011 Spring Season

Polina Semionova, a principal dancer with Berlin State Opera Ballet, will debut as a Guest Artist with American Ballet Theatre for the 2011 Metropolitan Opera House season, it was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie. With ABT, Semionova will perform Kitri in Don Quixote at the matinee on Saturday, May 21, opposite David Hallberg as Basilio, and the dual role of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake on Saturday evening, July 2, opposite Hallberg as Prince Siegfried.

Born in Moscow, Semionova studied at the Bolshoi Ballet School before joining the Berlin State Opera Ballet as the company's youngest principal dancer. Her repertoire with Berlin State Opera Ballet includes Odette-Odile in Swan Lake, Nikiya in La Bayadère, Marie in The Nutcracker, Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Swanilda in Coppélia, Kitri in Don Quixote, the title roles in Giselle and Manon, Tatiana in John Cranko's Onegin, Sieglinde and Brünhilde in Maurice Bejart's Ring um den Ring, Juliet in John Cranko's Romeo and Juliet and the title roles in Roland Petit's Carmen and

Sir Frederick Ashton's Sylvia. She has performed principal roles in Jerome Robbins' Afternoon of a Faun, George Balanchine's Ballet Imperial, Apollo (Terpsichore), Midsummer Night's Dream, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, and Diamonds pas de deux, William Forsythe's The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude and Jirí Kylián's Return to the Strange Land. She has also appeared in works by Mauro Bigonzetti, Renato Zanella,

Uwe Scholz and Christian Spuck.

Semionova created the title role in Vladimir Malakhov's Cinderella and Creativity in Bigonzetti's Caravaggio. She has appeared as a guest artist with English National Ballet, Tokyo Ballet, Teatro alla Scala, Vienna State Opera Ballet, Zurich Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet and Bolshoi Ballet.

Semionova's awards include a gold medal at the Moscow International Ballet Competition (2001), First Prize at the Vaganova-Prix Ballet Competition in St. Petersburg,

the Junior Prize at the Nagoya International Ballet Competition (2002), Daphne Prize (2004), German Critics Choice Award (2005) and the Dance Open Award (2010).

Subscriptions for American Ballet Theatre's 2011 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House are on sale now now by phone 212-362-6000 or online at ABT's website www.abt.org.