Olesya Novikova

Olesya Novikova (Russian: Олеся Новикова) is a Russian ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer with the Mariinsky Theatre.

She was born in Saint Petersburg and studied at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet. Upon graduation, she joined the Mariinsky Theatre; she has toured with them in Great Britain, Germany and China. Novikova won a prize at the International Vaganova-Prix Ballet Dancers' Competition in 2002.

Novikova created the female lead role in Du Côté de chez “Swann” by Alexei Miroshnichenko. In 2011, she played the lead role in the ballet Raymonda.

In 2021, Novikova was promoted to the rank of Principal dancer of the Mariinsky Theatre.

She is married to Leonid Sarafanov, with him they have 4 children: Alexei (born 2010), Ksenia (born 2015), Alexander (born 2018) and Konstantin (born 2022).