Roles:
Swan Lake: Odette / Odile
Cinderella: Fairy Godmother
The Nutcracker: Sugar Plum Fairy

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.

Razmik Marukyan was born in Armenia and began dancing at 9. After graduating from the Yerevan Choreographic School in 2016, he was invited to the Armenian National Opera and Ballet Theater.

Razmik’s dream is to become the best in his profession. Despite his young age, Razmik has already earned multiple awards: Second prize and silver medal winner – the VII International Young Ballet of the World Competition named after Yuri Grigarovich; Finalist Diploma and Jury Award of Encouragement – USA International Ballet Competition; Finalist Diploma Award – Moscow XII International Ballet Competition in 2017; First prize and Best Artistic Performance Awards Winner – Concours Prix Arabesque, Belgium, 2017; Certificate of Honor – the National and Academic Opera and Ballet Theater of Armenia.

His favorite fairy-tale hero is Prince Désiré, “because despite the difficulties he does everything to save Aurora”.

Razmik’s advice to an aspiring ballet dancer is to start dancing as early as possible, to remember that the ballet dancer’s professional career is quite short, do not waste time thinking about the difficulties, but just do it (he himself, for example, rehearsed for an average of 8-10 hours per day to prepare for the solo roles), maintain your health, and don’t let anyone stop you!

Darya was born in the town of Smorgon, Belarus, and she fell in love with dancing from a young age, taking ballroom dancing and jazz classes. At the age of nine, Darya began her professional classical dance training. She eventually graduated from the Belarusian State Choreographic Gymnasium-College and received a degree in teaching from the Belarus State Academy of Music.

Darya danced solo parts in every production of the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus’ repertoire, as well as leading roles, such as Gamzatti in La Bayadere, Odette/Odille in the Swan Lake, Kitty Scherbatsky in Anna Karenina, Tzarina in The Firebird, and many others.

Darya’s favorite ballet is Anna Karenina. Her favorite fairy tale character is Belle from Beauty and the Beast because she is courageous, kind to everyone, and pure of heart. 

When it comes to the least favorite ballet move, Darya is not a fan of fouetté efface.

Darya hopes to visit all the beautiful and historical places of the world.

A piece of advice to her younger self: Be brave, don’t hide your potential. Modesty is a virtue, but it only holds you back when it comes to ballet.

Philip Fedulov comes from Philadelphia, USA, and started dancing when he was 7. He studied dance at the Ellison Ballet in New York and has danced with Houston Ballet and Orlando Ballet. In 2011, Philip became the finalist of the prestigious ballet competition Youth America Grand Prix New York, and in 2015, he received an award at the Domenico Modugno International Ballet and Contemporary Dance Competition in Bari, Italy. From 2013 to 2021, he was the Leading soloist in the Georgian State Ballet, where he danced a large variety of mostly classical ballets. In 2021, Philip joined the Latvian National Ballet Company as the Principal.

Philip says his dream is to stay healthy, dance to the best of his ability, and inspire future generations. Philips’s inspiration is the mythical hero Achilles, for his incomparable strength and abilities. He says that in the past, he felt as though he didn’t love Basilio from Don Quixote because of how one-dimensional the character seemed throughout the entire 3-act ballet. However, he’s grown to appreciate him more by bringing more of himself into the role. 

Philip’s least favorite steps are grand allegro jumps that involve turning in the air to his “bad” side. “It’s quite uncomfortable because of how rarely I can train them compared to my “good” side,” he explains. His favorite ballet and role would be Romeo in Romeo and Juliet. Philip says that he loves the wide spectrum of emotions and his premiere of this role was a very special time. 

When asked what he would advise someone starting ballet, he says, “As quickly as possible, cultivate the ability to see yourself critically and accept which areas you need to work on. It’s only at that point that real progress can be made.”

Roles:
Swan Lake: Jester
Cinderella: Prince
The Nutcracker: Prince

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.

Roles:
Swan Lake: Pas de Trois
Cinderella: Cinderella, Stepsister
The Nutcracker: Marie

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.