The most dazzling event of Summer 2024!

Andrea Lassakova was born in Dolny Kubin, Slovakia, and received her dance training exclusively with Klara Skodova at the Eva Jacz Dance Conservatory in Bratislava, the primary training facility for the Slovak National Ballet. She graduated from the Conservatory in 2011, and the same year joined the Slovak National Theatre as a demi-soloist, where she performed roles in ballets including The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Le Corsaire, La Sylphide, the Swan Lake, Giselle and The Little Prince.

In 2013-2014, Andrea moved to Finland and became a dancer of the Youth Company of the Finnish National Ballet. In 2014-2015, she joined the Finnish National Ballet’s Main Company. In 2015, Andrea moved to St. Petersburg, Russia, and joined the Mikhailovsky Ballet by invitation as soloist, and was promoted to the rank of First Soloist in 2021, dancing major principal repertoire including Odette/Odile in the Swan Lake, Medora in Le Corsaire, Gamzatti in La Bayadere, Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty, Queen of the Dryads in Don Quixote, Queen of Willis in Giselle, Fairy of the Summer in Cinderella and Sylvia variation from Coppélia by Messerer.

Andrea was one of the few ballerinas to work under the tutelage of Madame Tatiana Nikolaevna Legat. From 2021-22 she was coached by former Kirov Ballet Prima Ballerina Zhanna Ayupova and worked frequently with choreographers Nacho Duato, Oleg Vinogradov, and Mikhail Messerer.

Konstantin Geronik was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and graduated from the Belarusian State Choreographic College in 2010 with distinction. He joined the ballet company of the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus. He has danced numerous leading roles and his repertoire includes Basilio in Don Quixote, Ali in Le Corsaire, The Bronze Idol in La Bayadère, James in Sylphide, Prince in The Nutcracker, Siegfried, Joker and Pas-de-trois in the Swan Lake, Chipollino in Chipollino, Desire, Blue Bird in Sleeping Beauty, Peasant Pas de deux in Giselle, Frondoso in Laurencia, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. Geronik has toured Germany, France, Spain, China, Japan, The Netherlands, Belgium, Mexico, and Poland as a principal dancer.

He has received multiple international awards and nominations, including: 1st Prize at the Young Ballet of the World competition in Sochi (2010), 1st Prize at the Tanzolymp competition in Berlin (2011), 1st Prize winner of The 4 Beijing International Ballet Invitational for Dance Schools & International Dance Performance Series (2012), the 3rd Prize winner of The International Competition of The Ballet Artists in Astana in 2016, the 2017 National Theatre Award as the best male dancer for his lead role in Le Petit Prince, and in 2018 Konstantin received the title of The Honored Artist of Belarus.

Konstantin also had an artistic collaboration with the founder and director of the international festival World Ballet Stars Vadym Pysarev and has performed as a guest artist at Nina Ananiashvili’s Gala Concert, who has been described by the Daily Telegraph as one of the twelve greatest ballerinas of all time.

Ekaterina Malkovich was born in Abakan, Russia, and she is World Ballet Series principal dancer. The former Ural Opera Ballet star and two-time nominee for the coveted Golden Mask Award says of the role: “I think that my own character and worldview are somewhat similar to that of Cinderella. Despite her circumstances, she looks at the world with kindness and never allows anger or grief to get the better of her.”

Ekaterina graduated from Novosibirsk State Choreographic College, formerly Perm State Ballet School (class of the Honored Artist of Russia Galina Vedenina). She joined the Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theater’s Ural Opera Ballet in 2013. Malkovich has danced numerous soloist and principal roles including Giselle in Giselle, Gamzatti in La Bayadere, Kitri in Don Quixote, and Paquita in Yuri Krasavin’s Paquita (2019) for Ural Opera Ballet. She has garnered many awards, including Laureate of the International Competition of Choreographic Educational Institutions “Orleu” (Kazakhstan, 2010) and Diploma of the International Competition of Ballet Dancers “Arabesque” (Perm, 2016), and earned nominations as best artist for the prestigious Golden Mask Award in 2017 as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and in 2018 as Giannina in Naiad and the Fisherman.

Ekaterina took up gymnastics at five years old and began dancing a year later. Her professional dance career started when she was ten.

After completing her training at the Novosibirsk State Choreographic College, she went on to perform at Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theatre for over nine years.

Ekaterina performed on the main stages of the Bolshoi Theatre, Stanislavsky Theatre, and Alexandrinsky theatre, as well as the Samara Theatre and Kyrgyz National Opera and Ballet Theatre as an invited Prima.

Ekaterina’s favorite character is Alice in Wonderland – she is strong and brave but at the same time naive and honest. She is very smart despite her young age.

Ekaterina’s dream is to one day open her own ballet school.

Shuaib Elhassan from Manhattan’s Lower East Side, began his formal dance training at The Ailey School under the co-direction of Tracy Inman and Melanie Person on a full scholarship. 

Elhassan has also trained at intensives such as Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts, Jacob’s Pillow, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. 

lhassan was a member of Complexions Contemporary Ballet during their 2012- 2013 season. Additionally, Elhassan has performed with Life Dance Company, Zest Collective, Dance Iquail, and the Von Howard Project. 

Elhassan joined LINES Ballet in 2014.

Aaron Robison is a British ballet dancer who is currently a Principal Dancer with San Francisco Ballet. He was previously a Lead principal dancer with the English National Ballet.

Aaron Robison was born in Coventry, England. He trained at La Compañia Juvenil de Barcelona and at the Royal Ballet School.

In 2004 he won the Young British Dancer of the Year Award. A Gold Medal at The Seoul International Dance Competition in South Korea.

Kate Inoue is currently a lead dancer with Los Angeles Ballet. Her repertoire with the company includes performing Aurora and Princess Florine in “The Sleeping Beauty,” the Marie (Sugar Plum Fairy) in “The Nutcracker,” Nichette in Val Caniparoli’s “The Lady of the Camellias,” “Bloom” by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, as well as Christopher Wheeldon’s “Morphoses” and “Fool’s Paradise” and much more. As a guest dancer, she has performed the Grand Pas De Deux of “The Nutcracker,” “Don Quixote” Act III Pas De Deux and “Flames of Paris” Pas De Deux. In 2017, she was awarded second place at the Crea Ballet Competition in Hamamatsu, Japan.

Rasmus Ahlgren began his training at the Ballet School of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet in Helsinki, Finland in 2005. He later trained at the Helsinki Ballet Academy and the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 2018, Ahlgren joined the Perm Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet Theatre as Second Soloist and was promoted to First Soloist in 2020. He joined the Finnish National Ballet as a junior company member in 2022.

Ahlgren’s repertoire includes George Balanchine’s Apollo, Mikhail Fokine’s Les Sylphides, William Forsythe’s The Second Detail, Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo & Juliet (Romeo, Benvolio), Natalia Makarova’s Swan Lake (pas de trois), Marius Petipa’s Le Corsaire (Ali), Anton Pimonov’s Sleeping Beauty (Prince Desire), Jerome Robbins’ Winter, and Rostislav Zakharov’s The Fountain of Bakhchisarai(Vaslav).

Ahlgren was Silver Medal winner at VKIBC in 2017. He received the Bronze Medal and the Marius Petipa prize for academicism and clean classical ballet at Arabesque in 2020.

Rasmus Ahlgren joined Boston Ballet as an artist of the Company in 2022.

James Whiteside is redefining the meaning of multihyphenate as a principal dancer and choreographer for the American Ballet Theater, hilarious pop music performer, drag queen, podcast host, and author of “Center Center”, available wherever books are sold in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

He began his ballet training at age nine at the D’Valda & Sirico Dance and Music Centre in Fairfield, CT. After completing his training, he was a principal dancer with Boston Ballet until 2012 and has been a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre since 2013, dancing principal roles in Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Romeo & Juliet, Giselle, and many more. Additionally, Whiteside has choreographed for pop stars Mariah Carey, Taylor Swift, and Fischerspooner. He continues to choreograph for music videos, commercials, films, and ballet, including New American Romance, City of Women, and Danzón No. 2 for American Ballet Theatre, Past Present Future for Boston Ballet, and Marilyn’s Funeral for The Juilliard School. His first film, “Daytripper”, premiered in 2023 on All Arts TV and is available on PBS’ website.

Off the ABT stage, Whiteside performs pop music under the stage name JbDubs. He writes and produces his own music and choreographs his performances and music videos, which have viewership in the millions. Whiteside’s social media channels have nearly one million followers and his sponsorshipsinclude brands such as St. Germain, Sonos, Uber, and more. He also hosts his own popular podcast, “TheStage Rightside with James Whiteside.” Whiteside has completed Harvard Business School’s Crossover Into Business program.

Born and raised in France, Fabrice Calmels began ballet training at three years old. At age eleven Mr. Calmels entered the prestigious, 300-year-old Paris Opera Ballet School, under the direction of Claude Bessy. During his training and schooling at there, Mr. Calmels worked with world-renowned dance masters such as Serge Golovine, Gilbert Mayer, Max Bozzoni, John Neumier, Jirí Kylián, Violette Verdy, and also performed at the beautiful Opera Palais Garnier theatre.

Following his graduation from the Paris Opera Ballet School, Mr. Calmels moved to the United States where he furthered his training by joining The Rock School, and danced with the Pennsylvania Ballet. Mr. Calmels grew to perfect and expand his technique in America. At Boston Ballet, under the direction of Anna-Marie Holmes, he learned the Russian technique with ballet masters Tatiana Terekhova and Sergei Berezhnoi, and also the Balanchine style at The School of American Ballet.

After September 11, 2001, unable to acquire his visa, Mr. Calmels returned home to France and joined Paris’ most famous cabaret, LIDO de Paris. There he was fortunate to hone his partnering skills by performing the show’s acrobatic pas de deux.

In 2002, Mr. Calmels established himself in Chicago with the Joffrey Ballet, under the direction of company co-founder Gerald Arpino, again being exposed to another style of dance. In 2004 and age 23, Mr. Calmels became a lead dancer at the Joffrey Ballet, notably through his Principal role as Apollo. He was also coached by the famous Sir Anthony Dowell for the title role of Oberon in Ashton’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” In the fall 2009, he performed the title role in the Joffrey Ballet’s premiere of Lar Lubovitch’s “Othello”, which he reprised in the spring of 2013.

Mr. Calmels has danced several times for television and was interviewed extensively for the documentary “Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance.” Notably, in 2014, Mr. Calmels was a guest judge on the hit Fox television show, So You Think You Can Dance. Mr. Calmels has received numerous awards and accolades during his career including establishing a Guinness World Record for Tallest Ballet Dancer in the World.

Currently, Mr. Calmels is still dancing with the Joffrey Ballet. He is also focusing his time on choreography, modeling, acting, and promoting dance and dance education through his membership on the Dizzy Feet Foundation board.

Isabella Boylston is a Principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre in NYC & Director of Ballet Sun Valley.

Isabella Boylston was born in Sun Valley, Idaho, where she began dancing at the age of three. She later trained at the Boulder Ballet, the Colorado Ballet, and the Harid Conservatory. Isabella joined the American Ballet Theatre Studio Company in 2005 after being spotted at the ABT summer intensive, and was invited to join American Ballet Theatre in 2007. She was promoted to soloist in 2011 and to the highest rank, Principal Dancer, in 2014. Her repertory with the Company includes Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, the title role in Giselle, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Gamzatti in La Bayadère, the Ballerina in The Bright Stream, Kitri in Don Quixote, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, the title role in Sylvia, Lise in La Fille Mal Gardee, Fancy Free, the title role in Alexei Ratmansky’s Firebird, the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, and Theme and Variations, among others.

She has originated numerous leading roles in works by Alexei Ratmansky, Christopher Wheeldon, and Benjamin Millepied. Ms. Boylston won the 2009 Princess Grace Award and was nominated for the 2010 Prix Benois de la Danse. In 2011 she received the Clive Barnes Award. She was the recipient of the 2014 Annenberg fellowship. She has appeared as a guest star with the Paris Opera Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet in St Petersburg, Russia, the Royal Danish Ballet, the National Ballet of China, and the Ballet Estable del Teatro Colon, among others.

Isabella produced and starred in the film early Sunday Morning which premiered at the TriBeCa film festival. She plays Jennifer Lawrence’s dance double in the film Red Sparrow, in addition to appearing as herself as the principal dancer in the film’s closing sequence. She has collaborated with a number of brands including Nike, Bobbi Brown, Olay, Clarins, Chanel, Cushnie et Ochs, Wolford, Norma Kamali, Naturalizer, and Walgreens, to name a few. She has been featured in countless publications from the New York Times to Vogue and Harpers Bazzar.

Isabella works with the charity the National Dance Institute, which partners with public schools to offer free dance classes to kids in underserved communities. She also is the founding artistic director of Ballet Sun Valley, a festival which brings world class ballet performances and free dance classes for children to her hometown.

Adji Cissoko was born and grew up in Munich, Germany where she trained at the Ballet Academy Munich and graduated with a diploma in dance.

Cissoko attended the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre in New York City on full scholarship, before joining the National Ballet of Canada in 2010.

In 2012 she was awarded the Patron Award of Merit by the Patrons’ Council Committee of The National Ballet of Canada.

Cissoko joined LINES Ballet in 2014. Since then she’s originated many central roles and guested for galas worldwide.

Cissoko has given multiple masterclasses and taught classes around the world as part of the company’s outreach program. In 2020, she became certified in health/life coaching and ABT’s National Training Curriculum.

Cissoko choreographed her first piece “AZIZ “ for Ballet X in 2021. She also is a 2022 recipient of the Toulmin fellowship.

Born in Winter Park, Florida, Sasha De Sola trained at the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C., on full merit scholarship, where she studied under the guidance of Ludmila Morkovina, Anatoli Kucheruk, Alla Sizova, and Vladimir Djouloukhadze.  In 2004, Ms. De Sola was awarded a scholarship to study at the Paris Opera Ballet School.

At the age of 17, Ms. De Sola joined San Francisco Ballet, where she rose through the ranks and was promoted to the rank of Principal Dancer for the 2017 season. In 2020, she was appointed the Diane B. Wilsey Principal Dancer.

Sasha De Sola has danced many leading roles with the San Francisco Ballet. Highlights include Odette/Odile in Swan Lake; Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty; the titular role in Giselle; Kitri in Don Quixote; Cinderella in Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella; Titania in George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Olga in John Cranko’s Onegin; Princess Henriette in John Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid; Alexei Ratmansky’s Chamber Symphony, Symphony No. 9, The Seasons, and From Foreign Lands; Harald Lander’s Etudes; Serge Lifar’s Suite en Blanc; Jerome Robbins’s In the Night, Other Dances, Fancy Free and Dances at a Gathering; Helgi Tomasson’s Harmony, On a Theme of Paganini, Haffner Symphony and Trio; and William Forsythe’s The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, Blake Works I and Pas/Parts 2016.

She has originated featured roles in works by Christopher Wheeldon, Helgi Tomasson, Bridget Breiner, Val Caniparoli, Liam Scarlett, Yuri Possokhov, Myles Thatcher, Trey McIntyre, Nicolas Blanc, Stanton Welch, Danielle Rowe, and Dwight Rhoden.

Ms. De Sola has appeared as a guest artist in several galas around the world and was also awarded the Junior division Bronze Medal at the Youth America Grand Prix (2004); the Best Junior Couple prize at the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi (2006); the Junior division Bronze Medal at Varna International Ballet Competition (2006); and the Silver Medal at World Ballet Competition (2008). She was nominated as Dance Europe’s Dancer of the Year for 2020.

On Tiptoes – De Puntitas, an illustrated bilingual children’s book based on the life of Ms. De Sola, was released in November of 2018.

In November of 2019, Sasha De Sola announced the launch of The Ascendant: a charity initiative in which she collaborated with the San Francisco based jewelry store, Fiat Lux. Together they released a jointly designed, dance-inspired jewelry line where all profits have benefited Dancin Power and San Francisco Ballet, two nonprofit organizations that are dear to her heart.

She has also appeared in several advertising campaigns for Free People, Dr. Scholl’s, JINS eyewear, and Naja, among others. Ms. De Sola has additionally been featured as the lead actress in short films “Dancing with Nureyev” and “Sirens Tango”.

Sasha De Sola graduated Summa Cum Laude from Saint Mary’s College of California with a Bachelor of the Arts in Performing Arts. Additionally, she completed Harvard Business School’s ‘Crossover Into Business’ program in 2022.

While a student she performed soloist roles on the some world’s most coveted stages including David H. Koch Theater, Walt Disney Hall, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Mariinsky Theatre, Boston Opera House, and with the National Ballet of Canada. After graduation, Gelfer-Mundl spent two seasons with Boston Ballet II.

Gelfer-Mundl joined Los Angeles Ballet in 2023. In her first season with the company, she performed principal roles in the company’s productions of The Nutcracker and was a part of Melissa Barak’s World Premier of Memoryhouse. She is elated to be performing at World Ballet Festival 2024!

Regarded as a “dance luminary” (Washington Post), “pure joy in toe shoes” (Los Angeles Times), and “the ballerina who can stop time (and re-start it too)” (New York Times), Tiler Peck is widely recognized as one of the top American ballerinas of our time. A Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet (NYCB), an actress, choreographer, author, and designer, Peck continues to evolve as an artist and add to her extensive repertoire.
In May of 2022, Peck curated and directed the highly anticipated inaugural Artists at the Center for New York City Center, and has since developed the program into the critically acclaimed show, Turn it Out with Tiler Peck and Friends. The program, which features premieres from William Forsythe, Alonzo King, Jillian Meyers and Michelle Dorrance, enjoyed a sold-out world premiere in New York City and a European debut in London at the prestigious Sadler’s Wells Theatre.

Now, Tiler is excited to be touring the show in her home state of California.

This past fall Peck had choreographic premieres at Northern Ballet in Leeds and at Cincinatti Ballet and is making her first ballet for New York City Ballet this February.

Tiler added the title of curator when she launched and starred in the Los Angeles Music Center’s presentation of BalletNOW. She was the subject of the Hulu feature documentary, Ballet Now, and also choreographed the box office smash action movie, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.

She performed with Josh Groban at Radio City Music Hall in a special streamed later on PBS, she appeared in Season 7 of Ray Donovan opposite Liev Shreiber and the Netflix series Tiny Pretty Things, and was the first ballerina ever to appear on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Tiler also guested on Dancing with the Stars for three seasons and on Julie Andrews’ Netflix series, Julie’s

Greenroom, and starred in the film Ballet 422.

Born in Bakersfield, California, Tiler began her dance training at the age of two at her mom’s dance studio. At 14, she entered the School of American Ballet. The same year, she became an apprentice with NYCB and within a few months was asked to join the corps de ballet. Tiler was promoted to Soloist in 2006 and to Principal Dancer in 2009.

At 11, Tiler made her Broadway debut in The Music Man and next appeared on Broadway as Ivy Smith in the Tony-nominated On The Town. She played Louise in the Emmy-nominated production of Carousel (New York Philharmonic, Live From Lincoln Center) and more recently played the title role in Susan Stroman’s musical, Little Dancer (Kennedy Center). She is due to star in the production on Broadway.

Tiler had the honor of performing for President Obama at the 2012 and 2014 Kennedy Center Honors. She was the 2004 Mae L Wien Award winner, the Janice Levin Honoree for 2006-2007, winner of the Léonide Massine’s Positano Premia La Danza for International Emerging Artists, and a 2004 recipient of a Princess Grace Foundation–USA Dance Fellowship. In 2013, she was named in Forbes 30 under 30 in Hollywood Entertainment and won the Princess Grace Statue Award. She also received the 2016 Dance Magazine Award. Tiler developed and produced a daily ballet class, #TurnItOutWithTiler, initially aimed at helping people stay connected and moving during the pandemic. The show’s down to earth tone coupled with its very necessary purpose attracted the attention of enthusiasts like Jennifer Garner, Sarah Jessica Parker, Leslie
Odom Jr and Josh Groban, who all guested on the show.

Her first children’s book, Katarina Ballerina (Simon & Schuster) was published in 2020, and Katarina’s adventures continue in Katarina Ballerina & The Victory Dance (2022), where she helps a fellow ballet dancer follow his dreams.

With a passion and keen eye for fashion, Tiler recently launched the “Love, Tiler” collection with Só Dança and designed the capsule collection, Tiler Peck X STATESIDE, in collaboration with the popular Los Angeles-based womenswear line. Her second capsule collection for STATESIDE was released in early 2023.

Angelina loves ballet for its vivaciousness. She was born in Pleshenitsy – a small town in Belarus- and took up gymnastics when she was six, then gradually moved on to ballet by age ten. Angelina received her training at the Belarusian State Choreographic Gymnasium-College, and she also graduated from the Belarus State University of Arts and Culture with a degree in Cultural Studies.

Angelina’s least favorite parts are those rather static roles which require more walking than dancing. She enjoys herself the most when moving and expressing herself in various characters and styles. The most challenging dance moves for her are the ones that require turnout – Angelina had to work hard on her turnout from an early age.

A piece of advice to her younger self: Always find good use for your free time. Keep improving, and never doubt yourself. You can do it!

Ekaterina likes trying new techniques in ballet and dreams of visiting Paris.

Ekaterina was born in Kaliningrad. She started dancing when she was eight years old – first as a member of the ensemble called “The Dream”. After some time, when she realized that dance was more than a hobby for her, Ekaterina moved to Minsk, Belarus, to receive her professional ballet performer training at the Choreography College.

Ekaterina danced on the stages of the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus, Royal Opera House Muscat, and other renowned venues. Her roles include Maria in La Halte de Cavalerie, the Beloved in Straussiana, The Fairy of Generosity in Sleeping Beauty, Step Sister in Cinderella, Angela in Creation of the World, and Little Swan in Swan Lake.

Ekaterina’s least favorite ballet move is assemblé. She also came to learn that sometimes a new part that seems wrong at the beginning – it may contain a challenging technique, or an unusual character temperament – becomes her favorite through the work process. Ekaterina likes to find ways to bring color to a character and make it uniquely her own. Thus, she turns the roles that she initially disliked into the best and most interesting ones.

Ekaterina’s favorite fairy tale character is the Little Prince because he teaches us to look within, to be loyal and responsible, and to value friendship and love. Her favorite ballet role is Giselle.

A piece of advice to her younger self: Be brave, don’t be afraid of anything, because the dream is stronger than fear.

Maksim was born in Minsk, Belarus, and started dancing when he was 6. His dance career began in a ballroom dancing class, but after a while, Maksim found himself in the world of ballet. He received his training at the Belarusian State Choreographic Gymnasium-College and was invited to the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus. Since then, Maksim has performed on various stages across the world.

Maksim does not have the least favorite dance moves; there are only those he is yet to master. His least favorite character is Crassus in Spartacus – he is vain, full of hubris, and thinks he is invincible out of ignorance.

A piece of advice to his younger self: Have more confidence in yourself!

Haruka was born in Japan and started studying ballet in Kyoto when she was 7 years old.

In 2013-2015 she trained at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet (class of Professor Lyudmila Kovaleva). In 2015-2022 she worked at the Astrakhan State Theater of Opera and Ballet in Russia, and from 2017 was promoted to leading soloist.

She is the 3rd prize winner of the Russian-Japanese Eurasia competition 2019. She toured Germany, England, Spain, and China.

The highlighted roles of her career include: Masha/Princess in The Nutcracker, Giselle in Giselle, Aurora, Princess Florine in Sleeping beauty, Pas de trois in the Swan Lake, Queen of Dryads, Street Dancer in Don Quixote. Also, Sylphide in La Sylphide, Black Swan Pas de dux from Swan Lake, Pas de dux from Talisman, Pas de dux from Le Corsaire 3rd act, and more.

Haruka’s dream is to have her own big book library. Her favorite fairy tale is The Three Musketeers, which she read many times as a child. She is especially fond of the characters of D’Artagnan and Athos, because they are brave and smart, fight against evil, and their resourcefulness gets them out of any trouble they find themselves in.

Haruka likes a good choreographic challenge, and prefers complicated parts which allow for a range of movement. Her favorite ballet role is Giselle because Giselle is a very emotional, lyrical character, and she is in love. “When I dance Giselle, I can feel Giselle’s emotions, happiness, pain, sadness and love… and I want to convey these emotions to the audience” – she says.

Her advice to an aspiring ballet dancer is: Have no fear, dance with your soul, express your emotions, and have fun!

Born in Takamatsu, Japan, Makiko’s love for ballet began at the age of 10 when she started training at the Koike Ballet Studio and Emiko Ikemoto Ballet School in Hiroshima. Her pursuit of excellence led her to participate in the Summer School by the Washington School of Ballet. In 2008, she gained admission to the Perm Choreographic School, where she graduated with honors.

Makiko’s professional career as a ballet dancer spans over a decade, encompassing performances in various renowned theaters. From 2011 to 2017, she showcased her talent as a soloist at the Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet Theater, followed by a tenure at the Bashkir Opera and Ballet Theater from 2017 to 2020, where she excelled in both corps de ballet and solo roles.

Since 2021, Makiko has immersed herself in studying the Cecchetti ballet method as a ballet teacher with the “Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing” in England. Her dedication and talent were recognized in 2022 when she was awarded the “Teachers Study Award” by the Cecchetti Society Trust in England, earning a scholarship to join their prestigious Summer Seminar.

Driven by her love for ballet and a desire to inspire others, Makiko continues to pursue her dreams, aspiring to dance for as long as she can and to share the joy of ballet with audiences around the world.

Tatyana Sulyak found her passion for ballet at the tender age of 6 in her hometown of Pruzhany. By the age of 10, she had embarked on a journey to Minsk, enrolling in the Belarusian State Choreographic College, where she honed her skills for eight years. In 2018, Tanya joined the prestigious Bolshoi Theater of Belarus, gracing its stage until 2023.

With a repertoire spanning classics like Giselle, Swan Lake, Corsair, Bayadère, and Sleeping Beauty, Tanya’s versatility shines through. Her heart finds joy in portraying the spirited “gypsies” in Esmeralda and the enchanting “pussycat” in Sleeping Beauty. Since 2023, she has been enchanting audiences as a cast member of the World Ballet Company.

Tatyana’s favorite ballet character is the stepsister in Cinderella, a role that tugs at the heartstrings and brings smiles to viewers.

Away from the stage, Tanya dreams of extensive travel, a flourishing family, and setting an example for her children. A firm believer in the magic of effort, she draws inspiration from Harry Potter, reminding us that miracles happen with determination.

Tatyana Sulyak echoes the sentiments of her mentor, who once said, “You can do much more than you think.”