Faculty

The South Korean dancer Young Gyu Choi started dancing at the age of eight on his mother’s initiative. “I wasn’t immediately enthusiastic, but after a few lessons I stopped thinking about it and just went”, he says. At the age of ten, he was admitted to the ballet course at the Sun Hwa Arts School in Korea, and in 2006 he continued his training at the Tanz Akademie in Zurich, Switzerland.

Young danced with the Korean National Ballet and Universal Ballet Korea, both in Seoul. He entered the Dutch National Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in 2011. In 2013, he was promoted no less than twice: first to coryphée and later in the year to soloist. He then danced leading roles in Don Quixote and Cinderella, among others. On the first of January 2016, immediately after his debut as the prince in The Nutcracker and The Mouse King, he was promoted to principal.

Young also frequently performs as a guest principal dancer with leading international companies.

Young has received several awards.
2017, Alexandra Radius Award.
2010, Boston International Competition, 1st.
2010, Ballet Competition (Varna, Bulgaria), 1st.
2007, Youth America Grand Prix (New York City, United States), 1st.

Bakhtiar was born in the city of Saryozeke, Almaty region. He graduated from the Almaty Choreographic School named after A.V. Seleznev (2003-2011). From 2011 to 2013 - soloist of Astana Opera and Ballet Theatre. Since 2013 he had been a soloist of State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre named after Abay. Since 2015 he has been the principal soloist of Astana Opera.

Awards:
Prize-winner at the VII International Competition of Choreographic Schools of Siberia (Novosibirsk, 2008);
Diploma of the International KIBC Contest (South Korea, 2009);
Prize-winner at the International Contest of Ballet Artists "Arrow" (2010);
The holder of the scholarship of the First President of RK NA. Nazarbayev (2010-2011);
Laureate of the 1st prize of the International Festival of Creative Youth "Shabyt" (2012);
The winner of the II Prize of the International Ballet Competition "Grand Prix of Siberia" (Krasnoyarsk, 2014);
Grand Prix of the V International Ballet Competition in Istanbul (Turkey, July 8, 2016);
Laureate of the 1st Prize of the XIII International Dance Contest in Seoul (South Korea, August 10, 2016);
Grand Prix of the III International Ballet Competition in Astana (September 16, 2016);
Grand Prix of the International Competition of Ballet Dancers VKIBC (New York, USA, 2017);
Prize-winner at the XIII International Competition of Ballet and Choreographers in Moscow (Russia, 2017).

Repertoire:
Spartacus (Spartak A. Khachaturyan)
Benvolio ("Romeo and Juliet" by S. Prokofiev)
The Jester ("The Swan Lake" by P. Tchaikovsky)
Syrym ("Karagoz" G. Zhubanova)
Nutcracker-Prince (The Nutcracker by P. Tchaikovsky)
Nurali ("The Fountain of Bakhchisarai" by B. Asafyev)
Solor (La Bayadère by L. Minkus)
Quasimodo (Notre Dame de Paris)
Basil (Don Quixote by L. Minkus)
Lesko ("Manon" to the music of J. Massenet)

Yolanda Correa was born in Cuba and studied in the Vocational School of Art Holguín and in the Cuban State Ballet School Havana.

Before coming to Oslo, she danced with the Cuban National Ballet, where she was given the highest accolade of primera bailarina.  She was also the Principal Dancer of the StaatsBallett Berlin. Then Yolanda came to Oslo and became a Principal Dancer with the Norwegian National Ballet.

She has received several awards:
1999 Winner of the “International Meeting of Ballet Academies”
2010 “Grand Prix Giuliana Penzi”
2012 “Premio Positano”: best female newcomer
2014 “Wilhelmsen Holding ASA Company Award for Opera and Ballet”
2014 Nomination “Benois de la Danse” as best female dancer

She has also been guest artist in many international companies: Royal Swedish Ballet Stockholm, Ballet of Teatro di San Carlo Napoli, The Kremlin Ballet Moscow, Ballet of Kazan, Compañía Nacional de Danza Madrid.

Her vast classical and contemporary repertoire includes among others:
Snow Queen and the Sugar Plum Fairy. Dina Bjørn’s Nutcracker
Odette-Odile. Alicia Alonso’s Swan Lake
Kitri. Alicia Alonso’s Don Quixote
Aurora. Cynthia Harvey’s Sleeping Beauty
Tatiana. Cranko’s Onegin
Giselle. Alicia Alonso’s Giselle
Juliet. Cranko’s Romeo & Juliet
Cinderella. Ben Stevenson’s Cinderella
Medora. Grigorovich’s  L’Corsaire
Esmeralda. Grigorovich’s L’Esmeralde
Duato’s Multiplicity
Tiger Lily
Stepping Stones
Tetley’s Voluntaries

The Canadian-British dancer James Stout (Calgary) got interested in dance through his parents’ Argentinian tango dance club. From an early age, he helped out as a dance partner at the milongas (dance evenings). He went on to take lessons in ballroom and ballet, among other things. At the age of thirteen, he went to The School of Alberta Ballet – “because they needed boys”.

Later on, James trained with the Goh Ballet Academy in Vancouver; a period of tough, completely Chinese-oriented training that he says formed him. The final year of James’s training was spent at The Royal Ballet School in London.

Partly due to his great admiration for the former star principal Sofiane Sylve, James decided to join Dutch National Ballet in 2007, where he was promoted to soloist in season 2012-2013. Since 2018, James has been a principal with Dutch National Ballet; his promotion came immediately after his performance of the role of Tristan in David Dawson’s Tristan + Isolde. James succeeded in reaching the finals of ballet competitions in Varna, Hong Kong and Beijing.

Anna was born in Siberia. She started to dance at 5 years old and graduated from the Krasnoyarsk Ballet School in Siberia. 

Anna started her career with the Siberian State ballet (Krasnoyarsk, Russia) as a soloist. Later she became a guest-principal dancer with Mikhailovsky theatre (Saint-Petersburg) and Tatarstan state ballet (Kazan). Since 2012 Anna joined Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre ballet company as a principal dancer. During this period of dancing with Russian ballet companies her repertoire was very diverse. 

At 2015 she joined Dutch National Ballet as a principal dancer. Since that moment Anna became an international guest-principal dancer .She worked with Teatro Colon (Argentina) for “La Bayadere” by Natalia Makarova,  with Semperoper Dresden ballet for “Manon” by K.McMillan. Currently Anna is working with Staatsballet Berlin as a guest.

Anna’s repertoire is very diverse. During her carrier she dances principal roles in almost all well known classical ballets as “Nutcracker” , “Sleeping beauty”, “La Bayadere”, ”Gizelle”, “Copelia”, “La fille mal gardee”, “La Sylphide” , “Snow Maiden”, “Don Quihote”, ”Romeo and Juliette”, “Swan lake” and others. Her repertoire also includes main roles in lots of neoclassical ballets by such a famous choreographers as K.McMillan, J.Robbins, J.Kranko, G.Balanchine, A.Ratmansky, C.Wheeldon , Hans van Manen ,D.Dawson,Y.Grigorovich, Rudi van Danzig ,Ted Brandsen and others. In a different time her partners on stage were Sergei Polunin, Ivan Vasiliev, Leonid Sarafanov and others. 

In a studio legendary Natalia Makarova, Guillaume Graffine, Alexey Ratmansky, Michael Messerer , Patricia Neary, Patricia Ruann , Karl Burnett, Olga Evreinoff, Yukari Saito,Yannick Boquen ,Larissa Lezhnina, Rachel Beaujean and many others helped her to improve her skills of dance. At 2008 and 2010 she won gold medals on International ballets competitions in Krasnoyarsk and Perm. She is a winner of «Dance Open 2018- miss virtuosity» prize in Sankt Petersburg.

Currently Anna is working successfully with Dutch National ballet as a principal dancer and participates lots of  Ballet Galas around the world.

Liudmila Konovalova was born in Moscow (Russia). She graduated from Moscow Bolshoi Ballet Academy and joined the Russian State Ballet in 2002. In 2004 she was appointed First Soloist and danced the leading roles. In 2007 she joined the Staatsballett Berlin and was appointed Soloist in 2009. In 2010 she joined the Wiener Staatsballett as a Soloist and was promoted to First Soloist in 2011.

She has appeared as a guest dancer in many European Countries and overseas.
During the season 2013/14 she joined the Ballet de l'Opéra National de Bordeaux, the Slovenské národné divadlo, the Teatro dell ‘Opera di Roma and the Tokyo Ballet as a guest soloist.
In March 2016 (London Coliseum) she had the honor to take part in the Ave Maya Gala in memory of Maya Plisetskaya.
For the ORF DVD production of “Der Nussknacker'' in the choreography of Rudolf Nureyev she danced the main role of Clara.

She has received many awards and honors:
3rd Place in the competition “Young Russian Ballet” in Krasnodar (2004).
Special Price from the Serge Lifar Ballet Competition in Kiev (2006).
2nd Place in the International Ballet Competition KIBC in Seoul.
1st Place in the ÖTR-Contest in Vienna (2007)
1st Place in the Ballet Competition “Premio Roma” (2007).
Premio Capri Danza International (2018).

In June 2019 Liudmila Konovalova was honoured by the Russian Embassy in Vienna for her merits of the cultural relation between Russia and Austria.

Denis Matvienko was born in 1979 in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. He began his training in classical dance at a very young age at the Kiev State Choreography School, and at the age of 18 he joined the Ukrainian National Ballet as a first figure.

In 2001 he joined the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg as a soloist. In 2003 he returned to the Ukrainian National Ballet and in 2007 he moved back to St. Petersburg to the Mikhailovsky Theatre as a principal dancer. Two years later, in 2009, he returned as principal star to the Mariinsky.

He has been a guest dancer with numerous companies, such as the Bolshoi, the New National Theatre of Japan, the Alla Scala Theatre and the Paris Opera.

During his career he has performed numerous princely roles, but he is a dancer with great versatility, which allows him to excel in neoclassical and contemporary works.

He has won major dance awards, including first place in the Luxembourg ballet competitions in 1997 and Budapest in 1998; the gold medal in Nagoya in 1999; and first place in the Moscow competition in 2005.

From 2011 to 2013 Matvienko was appointed artistic director and principal dancer of the ballet company of the Ukrainian National Opera and since June 2016 he has been artistic director of the ballet company of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre.

Svetlana Bednenko became ballet soloist at the Donetsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre when she was only 15 years old and danced leading parties of numerous classical ballets.
At the same time Svetlana took part in numerous international ballet competitions where she used to win leading first prizes.

In 2011 she became soloist of St Petersburg State Academic Eifman Ballet Theatre (her tutor was Tatiana Kvasova).
Svetlana´s repertory in Eifman ballet:
Me - Don Quijote (Kitri),
Russian Hamlet (Imperess Ekaterina II),
Chaikovsky (the wife of Chaikovsky),
Red Giselle (Olga Spesivtseva),
Who is who (Linn),
Onegin online (Olga),
Anna Karenina (Kiti) etc
As part of the ballet company Eifman Ballet Svetlana toured around Europe, Asia, Australia and USA.

From 2013 and up to now Svetlana Bednenko is a soloist of the ballet company of one of the best ballet theatres in the world - the Mikhailovsky Theatre ( St. Petersburg).
She dances leading solo parties in classical ballets such as “The Swan Lake”, “Don Quijote”, “La Bayadère “, “Le Corsaire”, “The Flame of Paris”, “Cipollino”, “The Sleeping Beauty”, “The Nutcracker” , “Romeo and Juliet” and many others

Born in Uruguay, Nelson López Garlo began his music studies at an early age, later discovering his passion for classical dance.

In 2004 he entered the SODRE National Dance School where he graduated, complementing his studies in Buenos Aires. Later he became a member of the Joven Ballet de Uruguay company.

In 2009 he entered the Sodre Dance Corps with the second best qualification of all alumni. Next year Nelson López joined the Argentine company Ballet Concierto de Iñaki Urlezaga, giving performances in Argentina and in various parts of the world.
In 2011 he returned to his country, Uruguay, to join the Ballet Nacional del Sodre as a dance group under the direction of Julio Bocca.

In 2019 Nelson López ventured into stage and costume design, playing this role for the dance company Telón Arriba, a resident of the Solis Theater. A year later he joined the German company Deutsche Oper am Rhein as a soloist under the direction of the choreographer Demis Volpi, where he remains to this day.

Nelson López has covered both the classical and contemporary repertoire, participating in works by Balanchine, John Cranko, Jirí Kylián, Nacho Duato, Boris Eiffman, Twyla Tharp, Sharon Eyal, Roland Petit, among others, performing roles in the dance troupe as well as soloist and major.

Polina Semionova was born in Moscow and studied at the Bolshoi Ballet School. At 17 years old, she joined the Berlin State Opera Ballet as a principal dancer. In September 2012 joined American Ballet Theatre as a Principal Dancer.

Her repertoire includes:
Odette-Odile in Swan Lake; Nikiya in La Bayadere; Marie in The Nutcracker; Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty;Swanilda in Coppellia; Kitri in Don Quixote;Giselle, Myrta in Giselle; Tatiana in John Cranko's Onegin; Sieglinde and Brunhilde in Maurice Bejart's Ring um den Ring; Manon in Manon; Juliet in John Cranko's,Sir Kenneth McMillan's, Leonid Lavrovskij's, Nacho Duato's Romeo and Juliet; Scheherazade; Les Sylphides; Carmen in Roland Petit'sCarmen; Sylvia in Sir Frederick Ashton's Sylvia.Principal roles in Jerome Robbins' Afternoon of a Faun; George Balanchine's Ballet Imperial, Apollo (Terpsichore), A Midsummer Night's Dream, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Diamonds, Theme and Variations, Symphony in C; William Forsythe's The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, Herman Schmermann; John Neuemeyer 's Nutcracker, Midsummer Night's Dream, The Lady of the Camellias, Kylian's Return to the Strange Land.

She has also appeared in works by Nacho Duato, Mauro Bigonzetti, Patrice Bard, Renato Zanella, Uwe Scholz, Alexey Ratmanskij, Twyla Tharp, Anthony Tudor, Christian Spuck...

Semionova has also danced as a guest artist with La Scala, American Ballet Theatre, Bayerische State Opera, Mikhailovskiy Theatre, Semper Opera, English National Ballet, Tokyo Ballet, Vienna State Opera Ballet, Zurich Ballet, Maryinsky Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Opera del Roma ..

Awards include:

• a gold medal at the Moscow International Ballet Competition in 2001,
• First Prize at the Vaganova-Prix Ballet Competition in St. Petersburg ,
• the Junior Prize at the Nagoya International Ballet Competition in 2002;
• Daphne Prize (2004);
• German Critics Choice Award (2005);
• Dancer of the Year (2007);
• Prize of Heinz Spoerli( 2007);
• Prize Benois de la Dance(2014);
• Kammertänzerin (2017);
• Dancer of the Year (2018).

In 2013 she became a professor of Staatliche Ballett Schule in Berlin, Germany.

He was born in Pilsen, graduated from Dance Conservatory of Prague, trained in Washington D. C. with Suzanne Farrell. During his studies he won 3rd prize in Junior category at International Ballet Competition in Brno (2006) and 2nd prize in Pas de deux category and 3rd prize in Professional category at Prix Carpeaux Valencien.

He joined Czech National Ballet in 2009, in 2011 he was named a demi soloist, in 2012 a soloist. From 2013 till 2017 he was a demi-soloist with Bayerische Staatsballett. In 2017 he returned to Czech National Ballet, where he was named a principal dancer in 2018.

His principal roles include Prince Siegfried, Solor, Colas among others, and he also danced in ballets by George Balanchine, Petr Zuska or Jiří Kylián.

He won an annual Opera Plus Award for his solo part in Unitxt.
In 2012 and 2016 he was one of the nominees for Thalia Award.
In 2010 he won the main prize at International ballet competition Grand Prix Olomouc as well as a prize for the best individual dancer at II International choreographic competition in Pilsen.
In 2018 he and his partner Radka joined the Russian TV competition Bolshoi Ballet and were the first foreign dance couple to compete.

He danced in many international galas and tours. In 2018 he danced at gala in Karlsruhe and at Festival Internacional de Ballet de la Habana “Alicia Alonso” in Cuba.

Daniel Camargo born in Sorocaba, Brazil, started ballet at the age 10 in Ourinhos. In 2005 he joined the John Cranko Ballet School and graduated in 2009. He was a student of the famous Russian teacher Peter Pestov.

After his graduation, where he performed the technically demanding Solo named Notations I – IV which Uwe Scholz created for Vladimir Malakhov in 1996, he was taken into the Stuttgart Ballet’s Corps de ballet for the season 2009/2010.

Promoted to Soloist at the beginning of the season 2012/2013 after debut in the role of Basilio in Maximiliano Guerra’s Don Quijote. One season later promoted to Principal Dancer.

He made his debut with Dutch National Ballet as a guest artist in 2015 and joined as principal dancer in 2016 for the next three years.

Parallel to that he has been dancing as a Guest Principal with the most prestigious ballet companies of the world such as the Australian Ballet, Tokyo Ballet, Czech National Ballet, Kremlin Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet, Royal Ballet and many others.

Since the season 2019/2020 Daniel is an acclaimed Guest Principal Dancer, performing with several ballet companies worldwide.

Spanish-Cuban Ricardo Castellanos (born in 1997) began dancing at the age of nine with La Companya Juvenil de Ballet Clàssic de Catalunya in Barcelona before continuing his studies with his father, Rodolfo Castellanos.

He studied at the Royal Ballet School in London and performed in such ballets as Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle and Le Corsaire before joining the Norwegian National Ballet 2 in the autumn of 2016. In 2017, he went on to the main company becoming a principal dancer.

After Ricardo Castellanos' debut in the leading role of Solor in La Bayadère, ClassicalMusic.com wrote the following: «He achieves a weightless height in his leaps, almost seeming to hang in the air, his pirouettes are dead-on and last impossibly long. He conveys the dramatic story with technique and feeling and it is harder to imagine a stronger debut than this.»

He has danced the role of Rothbart in Holmes’ Swan Lake, the Nutcracker Prince in Boyadjiev’s The Nutcracker, the leading male role in Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante and soloist in the 1st movement in Balanchine’s Symphony in C, Prince Albrecht in the 2nd act of Giselle, Romeo in the balcony pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet and Prince Siegfried in a pas de deux from Swan Lake. He has also danced in MacMillan’s Manon and Kylián's One of a Kind.

His repertoire includes:
Albrecht in Giselle
Flames of Paris Pdd in A Night of Dance x 12
Giselle 2. akt - Albrecht in Norwegian National Ballet
Le Corsaire Pdt in A Night of Dance x 12
Onegin in Onegin
Romeo og Julie: Romeo in Lyset på Nasjonalballetten
Solor in La Bayadère
Voluntaries Pas de trois in A Night of Dance x 12
etc.

Currently Luisa María Arias is a freelance dancer, choreographic assistant to Nacho Duato and a part of the Nacho Duato Training Program. Luisa María is frequently invited to create choreographic pieces, master classes and workshops in different national and international schools and actively collaborates with the CaraB Danza Company.

Throughout her career Luisa María Arias has danced in companies such as:
- the National Dance Company;
- Netherlands Dance Theater;
- National Ballet of Nancy et la Lorraine;
- Opera National du Rhin.

She has worked with choreographers such as Nacho Duato, Jiri Kylian, Mats Ek, W. Forsythe, Johan Inger, Ohad Naharin, Paul Lightfoot, Sol Leon, Cristal Pite, Marco Goecke, W. Vandekeibus, Hofesh Shechter, Alexander Ekman and many others.

In 2011 Ivan Zaytsev joined the ballet company of one of the best theatres of the world - Mikhailovsk, where very soon he became a Principal dancer, his repertoire includes solo and principal roles in La Sylphide, Le Corsaire, Cipollino, Don Quixote, Laurencia, The Flames of Paris, La Fille mal gardée, and Class Concert
as well as productions of Nacho Duato The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker, Multiplicity, Forms of Silence and Emptiness, Prelude, Invisible, and White Darkness. Ivan has toured with the Mikhailovsky Ballet Company to Japan, USA, Germany etc.

He start his career from Krasnodar Ballet School in 1997 and while studying he was training at the Yury Grigorovich Ballet Theatre where he performed roles in the ballets Spartacus, Romeo and Juliet, Raymonda, The Golden Age, The Nutcracker, and Cipollino.
In 2002 Ivan graduated from Krasnodar Ballet School and entered the Department of Choreography at St. Petersburg State University for Culture and Arts.
After graduation from the University in 2007, he joined Leonid Jacobson Ballet Theatre in St. Petersburg, where he danced Romeo (Romeo and Juliet), Jose (Passion for Carmen), Siegfried (Swan Lake), Prince (The Nutcracker), Albrecht (Giselle), and Rodin (The Kiss).

After participation in the 11th Moscow International Ballet Competition in 2009, he was invited to join Boris Eifman Ballet Theatre. Ivan´s parties in Eifman Ballet were:

• Basil in Don Quixote, 
• Onegin in Onegin, 
• Vronsky in Anna Karenina, 
• Ekaterina´s son in Russian Hamlet, 
• The Prince,
  
• The Young man & The Joker in Chaikovsky.
  

More information on the website of the Mikhailovsky theatre.

Aidos Zakan began his training in1997 at Anna Selezneva School in Almaty, Kazachstan, and graduated in 2005 from Vaganova Academy of Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia.

2006-2009 he was a soloist at Musa Dshalil theatre before joining Mikhaylovskiy Theatre, St. Petersburg in 2009. 2010, he became a member of Stanislavski- and Nemirovich-Danchenko theatre, Moscow and in 2013 was engaged as a soloist with Boston Ballet company. His repertoire comprises parts as Siegfried („Swan Lake“), Prince Désiré in „Sleeping Beauty“, Albert in „Giselle“, James in „La Sylphide“ and Basile in „Don Quichotte“.

At the Vaganova Competition 2006 he was awarded with the prizes.

Other awards include Arabesque-2010 in Donetsk, Ukraine, and Korean International ballet competition in 2010 and 2011.

In december 2015, Aidos joined Aalto Ballett Essen as a soloist with group commitments and has performed roles like Karl („The Nutcracker“), Basile („Don Quichotte“) and solistic parts in „Queen“.

Alexei Timofeyev is a Soloist Dancer at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg.

He graduated from the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in 2004, in class of Gennady Selyutsky and he joined the Mariinsky Theatre that same year.

His awards include 3rd prize in the VII International Ballet Competition of Seoul. Diploma in the XI International Competition of Ballet Dancers and Choreographers of Moscow and in the XVI International Ballet Festival Rudolf Nureyev.

He has a wide repertoire as a soloist behind his back.

Francisco Lorenzo is a dancer, choreographer and teacher. He was born in Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires province, in 1978. He studied at the Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón, and performed with the Stable Ballet during the 1996/98 seasons. He danced with numerous independent companies such as the Mercosur Ballet directed by Maximiliano Guerra.

He has been the winner of several competitions in his country and named Revelation Dancer by the Clarín newspaper of Buenos Aires in 1999. That same year, he joined the Contemporary Ballet of the Teatro San Martín. There he specialized in different contemporary dance techniques and worked as a soloist with many choreographers (Mauricio Wainrot, Jean-Claude Gallota, David Parsons, etc.).

In 2002 he moved to Europe to take improvement courses in Lyon, Paris and Barcelona. He danced for the Cía. Metros de Barcelona directed by Ramón Oller until in 2003 Nacho Duato hired him for the National Dance Company where he developed his work as a principal dancer until 2015.

He has performed in the most important theaters and festivals such as the Bolshoi in Moscow, Chatelet in Paris, Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, Staatsoper in Berlin, Teatro Real in Madrid, Kennedy Center in Greece, International Sydney Festival, National Theater of China, Netherlands Dance Theater in The Hague, Miami International Festival, among others.

He teaches classes and workshops in various professional conservatories around the world. In 2019 he embarked on the "Neanderthal" project for which they received the first prize for Best Show at the FETÉN European Fair. He is currently a member of “was bleibt kollektiv I Gentian Doda”.

As a choreographer, he has premiered "Julietas y Romeos" (2022), "Tribe / Fun Away", "R&S" (2021), "Circle of...", "Sótano de cielo" (2019) ''Buñuel del Deseo'' (2018), “Black Rose”, “Buscando Cervantes”(2017), “Orquestarium”, “Ira”(2016), “Don't give up”(2015), “Dakishimeru-The Hugs”(2014), “Verdi que I love you V.E.R.D.I."(2013), "Ball and Chain", "SIMBIOSIS"(2012), "Andante Affettuoso", "Consequences"(2011), "My town, my house, loneliness...", "The murderer del Rol” (2009), “The water around”, “Coloquémonos” and “Casanova” (2006).

Alexey Popov was born in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova. He graduated from the Vaganova Ballet Academy in 2010 and joined the Mariinsky Ballet the same year.

Popov has toured with the Mariinsky Ballet to Italy, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the USA and Great Britain.

In 2014 he won the first prize at the Yuri Grigorovich World Youth Ballet International Competition.

He joined the Bayerisches Staatsballett in the 2016/2017 season as first soloist and was promoted to principal in September 2019. There he interpreted many principal roles such as James in La Sylphide, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Le Spectre de la Rose or Tchaikovsky-Pas de deux.

In July he will begin a new contract in the Vienna State Ballet as Principal Dancer, where he is being very awaited.

One of the most outstanding European artists and choreographers, Denis Untila, will be one of the invited artistsfor the Stars Gala.

Denis Untila began his dance career in his homeland, Moldova, and completed his training by graduating from the Vienna Conservatory. He joined the Ballet Kiel in 2001 under the direction of Mario Schröder as a soloist. He performed as a guest dancer in Schröder’s choreography “The Wall” in Essen in 2004. Further guest appearances have taken him to the Moldovan National Opera, and to Salzau, France and Italy (“Europe Dance”), then to the ballet company of the Vienna State Opera, where he performed in “The Nutcracker” and as Oscar in Vladimir Malakhov’s ballet “A Masked Ball”.

Since the autumn of 2006 Denis has been a member of the Aalto Ballet Essen, firstly as a group dancer with solo obligations and then from 2009 as a soloist with group commitments. On the Aalto stage he has danced solo roles as Dmitri (“The Brothers Karamazov“), Valerio (“Leonce and Lena”), Blue Bird (“Sleeping Beauty”), Bécaud (“La vie en rose”), Lillas Pastia (“Carmen/Boléro”), Moritz (“Max and Moritz), as well as further soloist roles in “Homage to Queen” and “Irish Soul”. He has also choreographed “The Soldier’s Tale” (Family Concert), “Game” (“PTAH”) and together with Michelle Yamamoto, “Alice” (“PTAH II”), "Jo“ and "Passacaglia“ ("PTAH III“). In the 2012/2013 season he choreographed his first full-length ballet “Othello” for the Aalto Theatre. Denis Untila is the winner of the Aalto Stage Prize for young artists 2012. After successfully creating „Vibrations“ for Essener Philharmonie, he presents a new choreography in 2018: „Moving Colours“, together with Armen Hakobyan.

Born in Voronezh, in 2003-2008 she studied at the Voronezh State Ballet School (M. Leon’kina’s class).

In 2008, she entered the Moscow State Ballet Academy (N. Arkhipova’s class).

In 2009, she graduated from the Moscow Ballet Academy and joined the Bolshoi Ballet Company. She rehearsed with Nikolay Tsiskaridze, who also was her first partner in the performances at the Bolshoi Theatre. She made her debut at the Bolshoi Theatre in the premiere of the ballet The Curse of the House of Usher choreographed by Vladimir Vasiliev in the framework of the Russian National Orchestra Festival under the baton of Mikhail Pletnev.

In 2013, she joined the Mikhailovsky Ballet, where her repertoire includes principal roles in Giselle, ou Les Wilis, Swan Lake, La Bayadère, Don Quixote, Le Corsaire, The Flames of Paris, Laurencia, The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Prelude, La Fille mal gardée, White Darkness, Le Halte de cavalerie, and Class Concert.

   

Evgeniya Victory Gonzalez was born in St. Petersburg, Russia.

In 2015 she completed her education at the Royal Swedish Ballet School. During her time at the Ballet School, she has been practicing and appeared several times on stage at the Royal Swedish Opera.

Evgeniya is a former student of Russian Master Ballet Camp.

From 2015 until 2018 she was a dancer at the Mariinsky Theater Ballet Company in St. Petersburg.
From 2018 until 2019 Evgeniya was a member of the Bavarian State Opera Ballet Campany.
In 2019, she became a demi-Soloist of the Czech National Ballet in Prague, where in April 2021 she was made a soloist.

Evgeniya has danced at prestigious ballet galas with the Russian Master Ballet Stars Gala, the Veterans Aid Charity in London and the Ballet Summer Estonia Gala.
In 2014, she received the third prize at the International Nordic Baltic Ballet Competition in Sweden, Falun and the Grand Prix at the Jeune Ballet Mediterranean in France, Grasse.