But Cristina Terentiev, 39, and her husband Alexei have been a couple since she was 17 and he was 22.

They met during her first professional engagement: she was Clara in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker, in which he played the title role.

Now, they're touring Australia with the Royal Czech Ballet in another Tchaikovsky ballet, Swan Lake.

Cristina Terentiev says her husband is in the company in a smaller role - he's older and winding back his performing career in favour of teaching at the ballet school they run in Moldova. But they still like to perform together.

"We've collaborated with the Royal Czech Ballet for about five years," she says.

She plays the lead role of Princess Odette.

The princess and her maidens are prisoners of the sorcerer von Rothbart.

They're condemned to be swans for all but a few hours each night.

The only thing that can break the spell is a vow of true love.

But will Prince Siegfried - who is smitten when he sees Odette one night - prove to be the one who can free them?

This is Terentiev's first time in Australia but far from her first time performing Swan Lake.

"For 17 years I've played the leading part in Swan Lake, about 100 performances in one year."

But she's never bored.

"Each time I go onstage it's like the first time."

But, she says, it's a physically exhausting role. It's large and there's a lot of varied movement including, towards the end, a lot of spinning. It also requires acting, embodying the role of the princess/swan.

And she has a lot of knowledge about the work in her head.

"I know each part: a prima ballerina should know everything."

Born in Chisinau, Moldova, Terentiev began ballet lessons at the age of four.

"My mother took me to the dance studio and I fell in love."

She trained at the Choreographic School of Chisinau and was a principal dancer with The National Opera and Ballet of Moldova before joining the Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada as a principal dancer in 2003.

Besides working around Europe and North America, Terentiev has entered many competitions. Her awards include the 2007 Grand Prix at the International Competition of Ballet Artists in Vienna and a gold medal in 2008 at the 23rd International Classic Ballet Contest of Varna.

Terentiev says she's enjoying her first time in Australia.

When not dancing she has been walking and enjoying the natural beauty of the land.

At the time she was interviewed she was in Tasmania.

"It's so different from Europe."

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