In 1986, shortly after her graduation from the Perm State Choreographic School, Tatyana Tolstukhina was accepted into the company of the Nizhny Novgorod A.S. Pushkin State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre as a ballet dancer. Her fundamental professional training (class of Honored Teacher of the Russian Federation L.G. Ulanova), along with her charismatic spectacular personal appearance and her scenic temperament, have allowed Tatyana to create a whole gallery of significant images in classical ballets and in productions by contemporary choreographers. These include such parts as Nurida and Morgiana in A Thousand and One Nights, Zarema in The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, Gudule in La Esmeralda, the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, Mercedes, Gypsy Dance, the Street Dancer in Don Quixote, Carmen in Carmen Suite, Sisters in Cinderella. As part of the ballet company of the Theatre, the ballerina has toured Russia, China, the USA, Italy, Turkey, France, and Spain.
In 1993, she began her teaching career as a teacher of folk stage and classical dance at the Nizhny Novgorod Ye.A. Yevstigneyev Theatre School. In 1997 to 1998, Tatyana Tolstukhina taught folk stage dance at ballet courses in Antalya (Turkey).
In 2003, Tatyana Tolstukhina participated as a ballet mistress in the production of the ballet Giselle in Istanbul. The production was staged by Honored Art Worker of the Russian Federation, Professor German Nikolaevich Pribylov.
In 2008, Tatyana Tolstukhina graduated from the Moscow State Academy of Choreography (the Bolshoi Ballet Academy) where she had been taught by German Nikolaevich Pribylov, Vera Nikolaevna Kulikova, Irina Yurievna Syrova, Alla Georgievna Boguslavskaya, Yuri Petrovich Burlaka).
From 2008 to 2023, Tatyana Tolstukhina was the Artistic Director of the Choreographic Department of the Nizhny Novgorod Ye.A. Yevstigneyev Theatre School.
From 2007 to 2023, she held the position of Ballet Mistress at the Nizhny Novgorod A.S. Pushkin State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. As a choreographer, she participated in dance performances in the operas The Queen of Spades, Rusalka, Carmen, Khanuma, Prince Igor, Otello, La traviata, and Cherevichki.
As a ballet mistress, she staged the dances in E. Fertelmeister’s opera Coco Chanel: The Pages of Life (2014), I. Kálmán’s operetta Mister X (2014), the opera Eugene Onegin, W.A. Mozart’s opera buffa Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti; ballet performance-concert The Old Photograph (2015), which became one of the key events of the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory. She was the choreographer of such ballets as One Love, One Life, La Halte de cavalerie, the Ballet Night dedicated to the 200th anniversary of Marius Petipa, and The Old Casket choreographic miniature.
Tatyana Tolstukhina is the winner of the Nizhny Novgorod City Prize. She is a jury member at many international competitions and the Chairwoman of the State Examination Board.
Since July 2023 she has worked as a coach-repetiteur at the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre.
