As the film Black Swan makes its triumphant procession of cinemas, a new swan is getting full houses at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris. This swan’s name – Irina Kolesnikova.

Irina Kolesnikova at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées.

The limitless grace of her arms, the exquisite bend of her wrists, her body whose movements combine technique with boundless fluidity – this is what makes the 30 year old Irina Kolesnikova, the diva of dance with whom few ballet stars can compare. In Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, the performer dances both lead roles – Odette and Odile, presenting us with the sensual Odette and then the terrifying Odile who enchants the unfortunate Siegfried. In this version of Swan Lake, with its happy ending, Odette-Odile the queen of the swans, is transformed into a lovely young woman after she defeats Rothbart, the evil genius.

Irina is a phenomenon. After graduation from the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, she was not recruited into the famous companies of either the Saint Petersburg Mariinsky or the Moscow Bolshoi theatres. She could almost be known as the female equivalent of Raymond Pulidor: always in second place, painfully modest and full of self-doubt.

However, this is a ballerina of her own creation. She was fortunate to be taken on board by the Saint Petersburg Ballet Theatre whose Prima Ballerina she became and whose Director, Konstantin Tachkin, she later married. The audience is made aware of the ballet company’s quality mainly due to Irina’s charisma. With no sponsors or marketing, this private company with its symphony orchestra attracts audiences by word of mouth. It is testament to the unprecedented popularity of dance today.