July 19 2025

The Opening Gala of the Pollino Danza Festival 2025 will have Daniil Simkin as guest of honor.
Daniil was born in Novosibirsk, Russia, in 1987. His family moved to Western Europe in 1990 and took residence in Wiesbaden, Germany, where Daniil grew up.
At the age of nine, Daniil began daily ballet training with his mother. In these training years, he won a number of important ballet awards, including Gold Medal at the Jackson IBC in 2006 and the Grand Prix at the Helsinki IBC in 2005.
After graduating academic high school, Daniil joined the Vienna State Opera Ballet as a demi-soloist in 2006 and also began his career as a guest performer around the world.
In 2008, he joined American Ballet Theatre as a soloist and was subsequently promoted to principal dancer in 2012. Beginning with the 2018-2019 season Daniil joined Staatsballett Berlin as a principal and maintained his position at ABT, performing with both companies as often as his schedule allows.
In 2021, Simkin founded the production company Studio Simkin to explore and develop dance opportunities for the next era with the highest production value and artistic standard, encouraging ballet to evolve within a digital environment and for new forums.