Ballet fans will be able to see a former Bolshoi  prima ballerina  perform  in Toronto this season.

The National Ballet of Canada says Svetlana Lunkina will be a principal featured guest in the 2013/2014 season.

Lunkina has danced for Russia’s Bolshoi Theatre ballet troupe since 1997, but has lived  in Toronto since the autumn  of  2012.

She’s been taking classes with the National Ballet and danced for the company in June for its “Mad Hot Ballet” event.

This January Llunkina announced her decision to stay in Canada instead of returning home – because of  threats and blackmail in Russia.

The Bolshoi  has been mired in controversy and power struggles, which made international headlines in January when a masked assailant threw acid into the face of the Russian company’s artistic director, Sergei Filin.