Semionova was born in and grew up in Moscow, Russia. She attended Ballet school with her older brother Dmitry Semionov, who is now a principal dancer with the Staatsballett Berlin. Studying at the
Bolshoi Ballet School in Moscow, she won awards in the top ballet competitions; including a gold medal at the Moscow International Ballet Competition 2001, First Prize at the Vaganova-Prix Ballet Competition in
St Petersburg 2002, and Junior Prize at the
Nagoya (Japan) International Ballet Competition 2002. Graduating in 2002, Semionova joined the Berlin State Ballet as a principal upon the invitation of its artistic director
Vladimir Malakhov, becoming the youngest principal in the company's history at the age of 18. She toured Japan as Malakhov's partner, the reason he had invited her to be a principal in the company. He gave her the lead roles in
The Nutcracker and
La Bayadère during her first season, following with the role of Tatiana in Onegin, which became her favourite role. In 2003, at the age of 19, Semionova performed with the
English National Ballet in
Swan Lake, receiving approving reviews from English critics. The following year she joined the California Ballet in their production of
The Sleeping Beauty, again impressing critics despite what they termed a disappointing overall ballet. Appearing in
Herbert Grönemeyer's 2003 music video "Demo (
Letzter Tag)", which was later uploaded to YouTube, brought her to the attention of both the dance community and the general public. Semionova is one of the featured artists on EuroArts DVD "Divine Dancers Live from
Prague", in which she dances a pas-de-deux from the ballet "Manon". In 2009 Semionova participated with the Berlin State Ballet at which she choreographed with Vladimir Malakhov. In 2012, after a conflict with Malakhov, she moved to New York and became a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre. In the same year she appeared in
Brian de Palma's film
Passion as a ballet dancer. In 2013 she was named professor at the Berlin State Ballet School. In 2018 Semionova had helped The Beautiful Mind Series company to develop a perfume which will come with the smell of fresh fruits like pear and mandarin as well as freesia and white blossom. Perfume, created by perfumer and founder of the company Geza Schön, was dedicated to Polina and named «Volume 2 Precision and Grace». The same year she also was voted as Female Dancer of the Year by
Tanz magazine. ==Personal life==