Behind the scenes in the career of a prima ballerina

Irina Kolesnikova has a wealth of credits on her dance card, but the prima ballerina has made her career from one particular role of a lifetime.

That would be the famous yin and yang characters of Odette and Odile in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, which has become her personal trademark since the age of 21. Her performance as the Swan Queen is regarded as a standout for a ballet that has been redone countless times on the stage and silver screen for nearly 150 years. After her debut at the London Coliseum in 2015...