Besides its bearing the status of the main theatre of the country the Bolshoi Theatre has always been the main theatre in my soul, in my consciousness. Since my childhood I always dreamed of coming to dance here. And it is but natural that I should try hard to join the troupe. Yury Nikolaevich Grigorovich suggested "Swan Lake" as the proper full-fledged ballet for me to start with. What I appreciate is that he believed in me, gave me interesting work to do.

Galina Stepanenko – a virtuoso of classical dance. Her dancing is notable for its impeccable form and speed of rotations, self-confidence, perfect classical poses. Being a personality of lyric-drama temperament, natural and artistic charm, she looks equally convincing in performing a wide variety of roles.

Galina Olegovna Stepanenko was born on 12 June, 1966 in Moscow.

In 1976 she was admitted to the Moscow Academic College of Choreography and her very first steps in the world of dance were made under the guidance of her teacher I. N. Dashkova. When still at school, G. Stepanenko showed herself a gifted actress, she performed the main parties in the ballets "Vain precaution", "Êoppelia" and "Pakhita". In 1984 after she graduated from Choreography College (in the class of S. N. Golovkina), she joined the Moscow State Ballet Theatre Company managed by N. Kasatkina and V. Vasiliov, where she worked with the teacher - choreographer Ì. V. Kolpakchi-Êuznetsova. During her first years of work with the theatre she performed all the leading parties from the Theatre repertoire: Natalie ("Natalie or a Swiss Milkmaid ", P. Lacott’s version after F. Òàlioni), (" The theme with variations ", J. Balanchin’s version), She-devil (" The Creation of the World ", choreography by N. Kasatkina and V.Vasiliov). The famous Cuban balletmaster Alberto Àlonso mounted the ballet "Bachiana" (to the music by E. Vila Lobos) for Galina Stepanenko and Vladimir Malakhov to star in his performance.

Since 1988 to 1990 G. Stepanenko was working at (the) Moscow Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre, where she performed Îdett-Odill in " Swan Lake " (choreographer V. Burmeister), Kupava in " Snow Maiden " ( choreographer V. Burmeister), in " Cîrsair ", Êitri and the Queen of dryads in " Don Quixote ".

In 1990 Galina Stepanenko was offered to join the Bolshoi Theatre Ballet troupe. Filigree technique, easy jump, “hurricane” rotations -all this enabled her to enter, quickly and naturally, the list of Bolshoi Ballet stars. The ballerina caught the attention of the leading choreographers, such as Ìarina Semyonova and Marina Kondratieva, Yury Grigorovich, Vladimir Vasiliev.

At present Galina Stepanenko works with M. V. Kondratieva, she actively takes part in the Bolshoi Theatre performances abroad. Her creative achievements are marked with the following ranks and awards: