In 2007, when she was eighteen years old, she was invited to study at the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia, the first American to be admitted to that academy. After three years, she graduated at the top of her class and with a Russian diploma. She accepted a contract with the Boston Ballet after two seasons, she was invited to dance with the Mariinsky Theatre, becoming the first American in history to do so. She returned to the United States in 2014 for hip surgery. She planned to return to Russia, but decided to remain in the United States.