Sofia Matyushenscaia was lucky to be born in a family of professional ballet dancers in Chisinau, Moldova, and began to dance from an early age, from around 6 years old.

She studied at the National Choreographic College and trained in Italy in the city of Milan. She is a graduate of the Academy of Theater Music and Fine Arts, Faculty of Education. She performed leading roles on the stages of the Bolshoi Theatre, the Mariinsky Theatre, the Stanislavsky Theatre. 

Sofia doesn’t believe in having favorite parts in ballet, because in any part a dancer can find interesting nuances and ways to realize their talent and emotions. But if she really has to tell, she’ll confess that it’s Giselle. She does have a move that she finds rather challenging: pirouette attitude en dehors.

Her favorite fairy tale character is Leopold the Cat, because he is very friendly and avoids conflict at all costs – his attitude to life sets an example that any misunderstandings or difficulties can be resolved peacefully.

Sofia’s dream is to open her own ballet school.

An interesting fact about her: Sofia was nominated for Best Actress in the play Don Quixote at the Golden Mask festival.

To her younger self, or to an aspiring ballerina / aspiring ballet dancer, she would say: look for individuality in yourself, strive to make any movement uniquely yours, despite of the limits that classical ballet imposes.