Anna
Valev, née Backman (born 1969) is a Swedish ballet dancer. Until her retirement
from active dancing in 2012, she was a principal dancer with the Royal Swedish
Ballet.[
Born
in Täby in Stockholm County, she took an early interest in dance, attending
ballet classes five days a week by the time she was eight years old. From the
age of 10, she attended the Royal Theatre Ballet School, after which she spent
two years at the Royal Swedish Ballet School, also completing her secondary
education there in 1987.[2] She immediately joined the Royal Swedish Ballet,
becoming a soloist in 1992 and a principal dancer in 1994. In her 25 years with
the Royal Swedish Ballet, Valev danced leading roles in the wide-ranging
repertory of the company, performing in both classical ballets and contemporary
works. Her preferred roles have been those with strong personal content such as
the title role in Romeo and Juliet (ballet) or Julie in Birgit Cullberg's Fröken
Julie. Her final assignment was in Pontus Lidberg's The Little Match Girl
Passion in April 2012.