Daniil Simkin was born in Novosibirsk, Russia, in 1987, the son of acclaimed ballet dancers Dmitrij Simkin and Olga Aleksandrova. His family moved to Western Europe in 1990 and took residence in Wiesbaden, Germany, where Daniil grew up.

After graduating academic high school in Germany, 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. He since then has danced most major classical and neoclassical roles in the company’s repertoire.

In his professional career, Daniil has performed throughout North and South America, Asia, and the Middle East.

In 2015, together with the Joyce Theater in New York, Daniil spearheaded and produced an evening of contemporary original choreography called “INTENSIO,” which toured the United States and internationally.

This was followed in 2017 by a production of a multi-disciplinary dance installation at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, which involved generative video projections and costumes by Dior.

Diorama, 2020, a co-production with Staatsballett Berlin, was a dance film conceived at the height of the pandemic with long-time partner Maria Kochetkova. The film received an award for “best screendance film under 10 minutes” at the 2021 San Francisco Dance Film Festival.

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.