Meet the Moscow Ballet "Dance With Us" Audition Directors
Moscow Ballet’s Vaganova-trained Soloists and Audition Directors are integral to the success of the “Dance with Us” student dancers who perform beside the pros in the Great Russian Nutcracker! These accomplished soloists audition and rehearse over 5,000 local ballet students annually in cities on the tour, helping to prepare them for their debut alongside Moscow Ballet's company of 40 professional Russian dancers. Read more about each one below...
For many aspiring young dancers, this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience!
Romana Dumanska
Romana Dumanska, a ballerina with Moscow Ballet, will add Audition Director to her list of accomplishments this season. Most recently Romana won First Prize performing a solo from “Napoli” at the International Ballet and Contemporary Dance Competition in Lecce, Italy and she was a finalist at the International Dance Competition in Spoleto 2017. In addition to performing as a soloist, Romana teaches children ballet and more in 'Kindergarden’ classes for 5 and 6 year olds, at Summer Ballet Camp and she is a ballet teacher at the Lviv School of Classical and Modern Ballet as well.
Olena Pedan
Olena Pedan joins Moscow Ballet as Soloist and Audition Director for the 2017 25th Anniversary Tour of Swan Lake and the Great Russian Nutcracker across North America! Olena also tours internationally throughout Europe and China as Guest Artist. In 2016 Olena was invited to audition for resident choreographer Erik Othelius Sörensen at Paris' famous dance theatre the Moulin Rouge.
Anastasiya Hnatyshyn
Anastasiya began studying ballet when she was 7 years old and asked her mother to take her to the Lviv State Ballet School in Ukraine. She reports that studying at ballet school was not always easy or fun, but she never thought to stop going to ballet school even though sometimes she cried and couldn’t execute the moves. She continued her studies at Lviv College of Choreography for Classic Ballet later graduating from the esteemed Kharkov Academy of Culture and receiving a degree as choreographer and as elementary school teacher.
Maria Morari
Maria Morari premieres with Moscow Ballet on the 2017 25 th Anniversary Tour of North America. She started her professional career as a ballerina at the National Theatre for Ballet and Opera in Chișinău, the capitol city of Moldova. She has toured around the world performing the classic Russian ballet repertoire including Swan Lake, Giselle, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Don Quixote, Spartacus, Chippolino, Coppelia, Romeo and Juliet and the Great Russian Nutcracker.
Mariia Skoruk
Mariia Skoruk was awarded "Honorable Mention" 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.She was born in 1989 in Kiev, Ukraine. At just ten years old she was invited to attend the famous ballet school of the Kiev State Opera and Ballet Theater.
Anna Radik
Moscow Ballet Audition Director and Soloist Anna Radik has performed with the company for five years as Soloist in Act II of the Great Russian Nutcracker. 2016 is Anna’s first tour as Audition Director. Anna was born and raised in Kiev, Ukraine and was accepted as a Ballet Student at the Academy of Ballet at the National University of Art in Kiev, Ukraine at age 10.
Alisa Bolotnikova
Moscow Ballet Soloist and Audition Director Alisa Bolotnikova premiered with Moscow Ballet in 2016 and was Audition Director in the “Dance with Us” program. Alisa was accepted at the Kharkov Children's Music, Ballet and Choreographic School at just 5 years old, and just six months later she was on stage as a Little Star. Delighted with her costume, Alisa decided then that ballet and the stage was her life!
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Mimi Ewers of Ballet Arts Academy of Spokane in Spokane ~ “For me this experience of partnering with Moscow Ballet was both exciting and rewarding... Moscow Ballet presented a group of beautifully trained dancers with sweet, elegant and simple choreography with high attention to kids participation. What a delight!! It was a breeze of very fresh air! Please extend my gratitude to Akiva and Mary for the wonderful things they do to propagate culture around the United States. I have always believed that the arts are the heart and soul of a city.”
Julia Zhmutski of Julia’s Dance Academy in Oklahoma City ~ “Our studio was honored to be able to participate in the Great Russian Nutcracker with Moscow Ballet. It was such an amazing opportunity for our young dancers to learn and grow and see how a professional company works. We loved the fact that the original Nutcracker was used and the costumes were breathtaking. Everyone we worked with was wonderful. We can't wait to participate in the show next year, our girls are already talking about what parts they hope to get!”