Anna Fedosova gives Katherine MacAlister an insight into her life with the State Ballet of Siberia

Anna Fedosova started dancing at the age of 10 when she went to ballet school. Born in Perm, the oldest Russian city in the Western Urals, she joined the Russian State Ballet of Siberia two years ago after graduating from the ballet school.

Now 20 years old, she has reached the lofty heights of principal dancer and will be performing at the New Theatre later this month in The Snow Maiden, Giselle and Swan Lake.

Currently on tour, her schedule now is a far cry from the ballet’s base in Krasnoyarsk. “Absolutely, there I get up at 8am, get myself ready for work, have a little breakfast and go to the theatre. At the theatre I start training for about one hour and then my rehearsals start. I have a break in the middle of the day and then again rehearsals.”

How many hours sleep does she like to get?

“Usually I need eight hours, but I look after myself and eat well. I do not have too much to eat or eat anything sweet like pastries.

“On tour I get up early in the morning and have my breakfast which I prepare the day before, get ready, go for a walk, then travel to the theatre and start doing ballet classes, until the rehearsal. After that there is only a short time to get ready for the performance and then the show starts.”

So how long does it take her to prepare for each performance and does she have a specific warm-up and warm-down procedure?

“I will be performing in all the ballets on the tour so normally I need half-an-hour to warm myself up before going on stage and I do warm up in my special way, flexing and stretching my legs and arms.

“I also need to keep my muscles warm between rehearsals and between show acts and for that I use wool warmers and sweaters.”

So what about Anna’s spare time?

“I always try to get more sleep if I can,” she laughs.

The 20 year-old has toured the UK once before and enjoyed it.

“I liked England very much,” she says. “Until now I haven’t travelled much in my life, I think everything is still ahead of me although I did visit Turkey and Bulgaria recently and I had a great time there with my friends.

“So I still don’t know much about British culture, but everything I have seen was very advanced and versatile As for Anna’s legions of fans and the endless young ballerinas who will be coming to watch, what advice can you give them? “To fall in love with dancing, with everything you do on stage and the audience will definitely fall in love with you.”

SEE IT
Oxford New Theatre
0844 871 3020
February 22, The Snow Maiden 7.30pm
February 23, Giselle 7.30pm
February 24, Swan Lake 2.30pm & 7.30pm