American ballerina Yana Peneva leaves Stuttgart Ballet to join Mariinsky

Yana Peneva has left The Stuttgart Ballet in Germany to join the Mariinsky Theatre as the second American dancer to be offered a soloist position by the Russian company for the new 2025-2026 season.

"Truly thankful and beyond my biggest dreams I am honored to share that I will be joining the @mariinsky Ballet as a Soloist for the 2025/2026 season!" Yana, who is from Orlando, Florida, said in her Instagram post on 10th August.

On the same day, Alexei Orohovsky, an 18-year-old boy from Mississippi, also announced he was joining the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg.

Yana joined The Stuttgart Ballet in the 2024-2025 season as a corps member. Alexei has just graduated from John Cranko Schule.

Congratulations!

I have just found the discussion thread about the recent Mariinsky hires and geopolitical concerns on Reddit.