Meet Our Master Ballet Instructors...

Nataliya Miroshnyk
Nataliya Miroshnyk has charmed audiences for several years in the Great Russian Nutcracker performance, in various roles. In 2010, she performed in the North American west coast tour, dancing the athletic Chinese Variation in Act II. On the 2011 tour, she will be a member of the east coast troupe, dancing the Spanish variation. She is a graduate of the Kiev Academic Choreographic School in Ukraine and is an expertly trained ballerina. She was soon invited to join the Odessa State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater company of the Ukraine, with which she toured the world. In addition the Great Russian Nutcracker, Nataliya’s repertoire includes classic ballets such as Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadere, and Don Quixote.

She has danced as a soloist with Moscow Ballet for over five years and also serves as an Audition Director, traveling across North America to search for and train young dancers to perform with the professionals in the company’s productions of the Great Russian Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Romeo and Juliet. Most recently, Nataliya led Moscow Ballet’s 2011 Summer Intensive workshops, offering “Vaganova method” training for advanced and pre-professional American ballet students. Watch Nataliya below, working with students in Galesburg IL...

Svetlana Todinova
Svetlana Todinova was born in Yadrun, Russia, just outside of Moscow. In 1997 she completed formal training at the Ufimsky Choreography School (now the Rudolph Nureyev Russian State Ballet Academy in honor of the legendary dancer, who was also a graduate). Upon graduation, Svetlana was invited to join the Krasnodarsky Musical Theater troupe of the Bashkiria Theater, where she danced for Yuri Grigorovich, famous for his virtuosic productions at the Bolshoi Theater. In 1999, she toured internationally with Russia's renowned National Academy of Theatrical Arts (GITIS) in Moscow, founded in 1878 by theater pioneer and founder of the Stanislavsky acting method K. Stanislavsky. Svetlana joined the Crown of Russia Ballet Company as a soloist in 2006, again touring internationally. Her repertory includes Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadere, Carmen, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and more.

She has performed with Moscow Ballet since 2001 and serves as the company’s Audition Director. Svetlana visits nearly 20 American cities between the months of September and November each year, where she auditions and trains hundreds of young, aspiring dancers to perform in Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker.

Mariia Skoruk
Mariia Skoruk was born in the city Kiev, Ukraine. At just 10 years old she was invited to attend the famous ballet school of the Kiev State Opera and Ballet Theater (National Opera of Ukraine). She graduated with a “Diploma of Distinction” and, seen as a talented ballerina, joined the company of the Kiev State Opera and Ballet Theater. This historic dance company dates back to 1867, and has since developed one of the largest repertories in the world, including 24 ballets. Many famous dancers perform on the National Opera of Ukraine stage including Serge Lifar, Nadezhda Pavlova, Maya Plisetskaya, and more from Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater and the St. Petersburg Kirov Ballet. She holds an Honorable Mention award at the Fifth Serge Lifar International Ballet Competition in Kiev. In 2009 she graduated with a choreographic teaching degree from the National Dragomanova Pedagogical University.

Mariia has worked with Moscow Ballet since 2007. Her repertoire is comprised of the entire range of classical characters. Among them… Romeo and Juliet, Great Russian Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Giselle, Cinderella, La Bayadere, and Carmen. She has performed internationally in the U.S., Canada, Holland, England, Switzerland, Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador. You can learn more about Mariia in the video below...