Daniil Simkin
Performed in BIG IV - VI
Daniil Simkin trained from a young age under the guidance of his mother, Olga Aleksandrova, and began appearing on stage at six years old alongside his father, Dmitrij Simkin.
Simkin began his professional career in 2006 with the Vienna State Opera Ballet as a demi-soloist. His first principal role came shortly after in 2007, when he danced Basilio in Don Quixote as a guest with the Lithuanian National Opera. In 2008, he joined American Ballet Theatre (ABT) as a soloist and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2012, where he expanded his repertoire extensively. In 2018, he joined Staatsballett Berlin as a Principal Dancer.
Simkin has won numerous international awards, including the Senior Gold Medal at the USA International Ballet Competition (Jackson, 2006), First Prize and Gold Medal at the International Ballet Competition in Varna (2004), and many more.
His repertoire includes leading roles in ballets, such as The Nutcracker, Giselle, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, and Le Corsaire. Simkin originated roles in Alexei Ratmansky’s productions including the Chinese Dance in The Nutcracker, Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty, and Ariel in The Tempest. He has also performed in works by George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, and Benjamin Millepied, among others.
In addition to his onstage accomplishments, Simkin is a forward-thinking creator. He founded INTENSIO, a multidisciplinary platform that merges ballet with technology and visual art. His choreographic and collaborative works have been presented at Jacob’s Pillow, the Joyce Theater, and with Staatsballett Berlin, including the productions Falls the Shadow (2017), INTENSIO (2015), and Diorama (2020).