 She was a prize-winner at the "Vaganova-Prix" International Ballet Competition in St. Petersburg in 2002, and graduated in 2003 under the class of Lyudmila Safronova.After graduating from the ballet school in 2003 at age 17, she then joined the Mariinsky Ballet under the Artistic Director Makhar Vaziev.During her first year in the company, she was given the unusual honor of dancing Odette/Odile in "Swan Lake" on 13 May 2003.