In June 2022, principal dancer Maria Kuimova-Litvinenko will take the stage of the Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre after her maternity leave. On June 9, the Honoured Artist of Russia will perform the title role in the ballet opera Carmen to the music of Georges Bizet.

It was Maria Kuimova-Litvinenko who performed the part of Carmen at the premiere performance in 2013. Maria loves this role; she has watched the film-ballet Carmen Suite with the famous Maya Plisetskaya more than once and brought recordings of various Carmen productions from her tours.

“A ballerina should transform into any of her heroines. But there are times when the part is especially suitable to a ballerina: to her character, temperament, even her look. It can be considered to be a luck. The part of Carmen should give the impression of improvisation rather than rehearsed movements - that makes it so interesting. But in fact, teachers explain us all the details of the character at rehearsals. We have rehearsed everything: any movement, turn of the head, glances. Even the glance of the proud and capricious Carmen was first rehearsed in a ballet class so that the audience would believe that Carmen looked at her Jose this way,” Maria Kuimova-Litvinenko said about her working on the role.

In 2002, Maria Kuimova-Litvinenko graduated from the Krasnoyarsk Choreography College and joined the ballet company of the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre. The beauty of lines, exquisite plasticity, artistic temperament allowed her to perform solo parts and become a principal dancer of the Theatre. Her repertoire includes the iconic roles of the world ballet masterpieces: Odette-Odile (Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake), Gamzatti (La Bayadère by Ludwig Minkus), Kitri (Don Quixote by Ludwig Minkus), Giselle (Giselle by Adolf Adam), Mistress of the Copper Mountain (The Tale of the Stone Flower by Sergei Prokofiev), Aegina (Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian), Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty by Pyotr Tchaikovsky), and many others. Anna took part in the ballet company’s tours in Japan, Greece, the UK, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Mexico, Cyprus.

Kirill Litvinenko will become Maria's partner as Jose on June 9.