Meet the two Americans who joined the Mariinsky Ballet in the 2025-2026 season. Yana Peneva, who hails from Florida, and Alexei Orokhovsky, a Mississippi native, both began their training in the USA, flourished in the YAGP competition circuit with multiple gold medals in their names, and then travelled to Germany to polish their training at the John Cranko Academy in Stuttgart.
Both were hired and joined the Mariinsky at the start of the 2025 season. A series of debuts then followed at dizzying speed, one after the next: The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Pharoah’s Daughter, Corsaire and many others. Both dancers have been given soloist billing and are performing the core repertoire of Petipa classics alongside modern works. They also continue to guest inside and outside of Russia, combining a touring schedule with a constant list of premieres in Saint Petersburg.
After gold medal wins at the Moscow International Ballet Competition in June 2026 both were immediately promoted to First Soloist — one rank below principal — at the Mariinsky. Despite their youth — both are still in their late teens at the time of this interview– they display incredible maturity, grace, and gratitude for the opportunities they have had and the experiences that have formed them.
If you haven’t yet seen it, please visit the Vaganova Today Youtube channel at vaganovatoday2989 to see the interview with them. And stay tuned to this site for reviews of their coming debuts!