SUMMER INTENSIVE COURSE 2025 - TBILISI, Georgia

Masters of Ballet Summer Intensive Course - TBILISI 10th - 19th July
Artistic Directors: Elena Glurjidze and Olga Semenova

In 2025, Masters of Ballet Academy is excited to have the reached it’s first major Anniversary of 10 years! To celebrate this achievement, they will be holding an International Summer Intensive Course, with 8 days in the Tblisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre, for students 10-19 years of age.

Artistic Director and Tbilisi Course Director: Elena Glurjidze (to see full bio, please see FULL FACULTY below)

Elena Glurdjidze was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, and trained at the prestigious Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg. In 2002, Elena joined English National Ballet as a Principal ballerina and was promoted in 2007 to Lead Principal ballerina. Following her retirement from dancing professionally, Elena and fellow Vaganova Academy graduate Olga Semenova embarked upon an Internationally acclaimed Easter and Summer Intensive programme. In 2017, they created Masters of Ballet Academy, a brand new Vocational style ballet school based on the Vaganova Method of ballet training.

• Work with a prolific teaching faculty, including Elena Glurjidze, Olga Semenova, Nina Ananiashvili, Stanislav Feco, Vasily Medvedev, Sara Knight and Vlada Kotter.
• Benefit from their experience of dancing in the greatest opera houses
• Prepare for your potential professional career
• Fine tune your technique and artistry Experience dancing in the prolific Tblisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre
• Enjoy a one day free excursion of Tbilisi, included in the Course fees
• Benefit from dedicated hotel rooms for the course, at a 25% discount rate, reserved for our students on a first come first served basis (students under 18 years will need to be accompanied by an adult staying with them).

The timetable will include 8 full days of curriculum, including Ballet, Pointe, Solos, Character, Neo Classical and Pas de Deux. On July 19th, there will be a Presentation Performance on the Upper Stage of the Opera House, for parents and invited guests.

Location: Tblisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre, 25 Rustaveli Avenue, 0108 Tbilisi, Georgia.

Date: 10th July to 19th July 2025

PRICE: 9 Day Course - 950 Euros

FULL FACULTY:

ELENA GLURJIDZE

Elena Glurdjidze was born inTbilisi, then from age 10 she was accepted into the Choreographic Ballet School. Furthering her
training she entered the prestigious Vaganova Academy in St-Petersburg at age 12 as a pupil of the great Russian ballerina Lubov Kunakova, who coached her throughout this period developing her into the ballerina she is today. In 2002 Elena joined English National Ballet as a Principal ballerina and was promoted in 2007 to
Lead Principal ballerina. Her repertoire included principal roles in Giselle, Don Quixote, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty,The Nutcracker, Romeo & Juliet, Cinderella, Coppe?lia, Manon, The Snow Queen, Chopiniana, Etudes, Sche?he?razade, Tchaikovsky pas de deux, The Dying Swan, Alice in Wonderland, The
Canterville Ghost, Le Spectre de la Rose, Raymonda Grand Pas, A Million Kisses to my Skin, Suite en blanc, Facing Viv, Vue de l'autre, Jeux as well as pas de deux's from La bayade?re, Le Corsaire and Ashton's Margeurite and Armand. Created roles included Virginia in The Canterville Ghost (Will Tuckett), Lead Gypsy Girl in The Snow Queen (Michael Corder), Vue de l'autre (Van Le Ngoc) and Jeux (Wayne Eagling)
In 2009 Elena was nominated for Best Female Dancer at the Critics' Circle Awards. Won both the 2007 and 2008 Ballet.co.uk Audience Poll for Best Female Dancer, won Best Partner Award at 7th Perm Open Competition in 2002 and in 1997 won the Bronze Medal at the Moscow
International Ballet Competition. In 1998 she won the 8th Paris International Competition of Soloists.
In 2009 Karl Lagerfeld, Creative Director of Chanel, created a tutu for Fokine's The Dancing Swan which he fitted exclusively for Elena at Chanel's headquarters in Paris forming part of the Company's tribute to The Ballets Russes staged at Sadler's Wells. In 2011 British Fashion Designer Giles Deacon created a tutu based on the Black Swan which once again was exclusively designed and created for her.
Elena lives in London and is married to Kakhaber Abashidze and has a beautiful son, Alexander, she speaks English, Georgian and Russian. She graduated from The Royal Ballet School Professional Dancers Teaching Course - Professional Classical Ballet Teacher and was invited to teach during The Royal Ballet Summer School as well as English National Ballet Summer School in July 2013. Her final performance with English National Ballet was as Odette/Odile in Derek Deane's Swan Lake at the London Coliseum on 18 January 2015, the role she first danced with the Company in 2002. She continues to guest with companies internationally and is currently working towards staging her own production projects.

NINA ANANIASHVILI

Nina Ananiashvili was born in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR. Nina is currently the artistic director of the State Ballet of Georgia. She has been described by the Daily Telegraph as one of the twelve greatest ballerinas of all time and in 2002 was named Best Ballerina of the Year by the US Dance Magazine. In 1969, Ananiashvili entered the Georgia State Choreographic Institute. Tamara Vykhodtseva was her first teacher there. Her progress was so impressive that it drew the attention of teachers from the Moscow Choreographic Institute, who convinced her parents to allow Nina to continue her studies there. In 1976, she entered the Moscow Choreographic Institute where her main teacher was Natalia Zolotova. In 1980, she made her stage debut in a school production of Coppélia. She graduated and entered the Bolshoi Theater in 1981.

At the Bolshoi Theatre, Nina was taught by two of the greatest teachers in the Soviet Union, Raisa Struchkova and Marina Semenova. In 1982, although still a corps member, she danced her first principal role with the company, as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, during a tour of Germany. That year, she made her first appearance with a foreign ballet company, the Alberta Ballet of Canada. In 1983 she was promoted to the rank of soloist and performed in her native Tbilisi as a professional for the first time. Eventually she rose to become a prima ballerina. She, along with Andris Liepa, was the first Soviet dancer to appear as a guest performer with the New York City Ballet in 1988 (she had danced in "Raymonda Variations", "Apollo" and "Symphony in C" there). In subsequent years, Nina Ananiashvili became an international ballet superstar. Ananiashvili also had the honor of being the first Soviet ballerina to perform with the Royal Danish Ballet, and it was considered a particular triumph that she danced in such pieces as La Sylphide and Napoli, by the Danish master August Bournonville, who is considered a national treasure by many.

OLGA SEMENOVA

Olga moved from St.Petersburg to London when Lady Sainsbury invited her to study at The Benesh Institute of Choreology. There she pioneered an exam based Character syllabus for students up to 18 years old, and trained teachers to implement this.
Olga also helped to develop a Vaganova based Syllabus for the Senior school at Central School of Ballet.
Olga trained as a professional ballet dancer at St.Petersburg's prestigious Vaganova Ballet Academy, Alma Mater of many of today's international ballet stars. Interestingly, her mother was one of the last students to study under the great Vaganova. After a ballet career, Olga completed a four years professional teaching/coaching course at the Vaganova Ballet Academy and was awarded the PDTC Diploma with Distinction and MA ( Hons).
Olga taught ballet for Junior and Pre-graduation classes at The Vaganova Ballet Academy. Her former students are now dancing in leading Russian and International Companies.
In London, she has taught at different ballet schools and professionals ballet companies as a Ballet Mistress.
Olga is a former teacher of the English National Ballet School and Central School of Ballet.
Olga is one of the most highly regarded Character tutors in the UK.
Also, she is a Character and Ballet guest teacher at a different school in the UK and Abroad. Olga is adept in Ballet, Character and Contemporary choreography.
Ambassador of ARBTA (Honorary), Honorary Advisor of Vaganova Method at Hong Kong Youth Ballet Academy."Olga Semenova is clearly not only knowledgeable but inspirational".
Amanda Jennings " Dance Europe"
" Olga Semenova's choreography of "Gypsy Dance" showed the impressive skills of the schools' youngest students"
Laura Dodge " Dancing Times"
" ....audience were treated to one or two unusual character dances taught by Olga Semenova"
David Mead, "Ballet Europe Reviews".

STANISLAV FECO

Stanislav Feco graduated from the Prague Ballet Conservatory as a dancer and later from the renowned Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg. He has been a principal dancer with the Czech National Ballet, St. Petersburg Russian Ballet, and the National Theatre in Brno, as well as a guest principal with renowned companies worldwide, including Teatro Colo?n and the Mikhailovsky Theatre.His distinguished career includes leading roles in Swan Lake, Giselle, Raymonda, The Nutcracker, Le Corsaire, La Bayade?re, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Onegin, Romeo and Juliet, and Cinderella. Feco has danced at major international ballet galas alongside world stars such as Svetlana Zakharova, Uliana Lopatkina, Carlos Acosta, and Roberto Bolle. He has also partnered with renowned ballerinas, including Galina Mezentseva, Yulia Makhalina, Lyubov Kunakova, Larissa Lezhnina, Elena Glurdjidze, Daria Klimentova, Jana Kurova, Natalia Sologub, and Margarita Kullik.

As a choreographer, Feco has staged original ballets such as Giselle, Palladio, Last Lullaby, La Bayade?re, Esmeralda, Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, and Coppe?lia for prestigious companies, including the National Ballet of Panama, Compan?i?a Nacional de Danza in Mexico City, and the Slovak National Ballet. His acclaimed ballet Palladio has been performed worldwide.He has collaborated extensively with Vasily Medvedev, staging over 30 productions internationally. As a guest teacher, Fec?o has worked with Staatsballett Berlin, Compan?i?a Nacional de Danza, Lithuanian National Ballet, National Theatre Brno, National Ballet of Panama, and other leading institutions.From 2007 to 2013, he was the leading ballet master at the State Academic Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre and the Ural Ballet in Ekaterinburg. From 2014 to 2016, he served as ballet master of the Slovak National Ballet. Since 2020, he has collaborated with Bayer Ballet Academy in California as a faculty member and choreographer, promoting the Vaganova methodology.In 2022, Fec?o co-founded and became director of the Petipa Heritage Foundation in California. In 2023, he co-organized the Petipa Awards Gala in San Francisco, honoring ballet luminaries and featuring world-class performers. His contributions to ballet as a performer, choreographer, and educator have left a lasting impact on the global dance community.

VASILY MEDVEDEV

Co-Founder, Chairman of the Board of the Petipa Heritage Foundation Choreographer, Honored Artist of Estonia, Vasily Medvedev received his ballet training at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet under legendary teachers such as Natalia Dudinskaya, Konstantin Sergeyev, and Gennady Seliutsky. He later earned a master's degree in choreography from the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory under Nikita Dolgushin. His career is documented in the biographical novel The Choreographer by Yana Temiz, housed in major libraries worldwide.As a dancer, Vasily performed lead roles at the Mikhailovsky Theatre, and later became a principal dancer and choreographer at the Vanemuine Ballet of Estonia, staging his original works. Honored Artist of Estonia.Since 1989, Vasily has performed and choreographed globally, participating in renowned events such as the Gala des Etoiles (Montreal), World Ballet Festival (Donetsk), and World Stars Galas (Argentina, Baltic countries). As an associate professor at the Vaganova Academy, he has influenced future generations of ballet choreographers.His choreography spans over 50 productions, including works for the Bolshoi Ballet, Staatsballett Berlin, Compan?i?a Nacional de Danza in Mexico, Slovak National Ballet, Croatian National Ballet, National Opera Bucharest, Czech National Ballet, Ural Opera Ballet, Azerbaijan’s State Academic Opera and Ballet, National Ballet of Panama, Lithuanian National Ballet, Grand Theatre Lodz, Mikhailovsky Theatre and more, His productions The Nutcracker (Staatsballett Berlin) and La Esmeralda (Bolshoi Ballet) were broadcast internationally to the most than 400 cinemas all over the world. Among his acclaimed works are titles as Onegin, La Esmeralda, Nutcracker, Pilate’s dream, Romeo and Juliette, Le Corsaire, Coppelia, Lady of the camellias, Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty, Satanella or La Bayadere.Vasily has received numerous accolades, including the Zirvya Award for Seven Beauties (Azerbaijan), Audience Choice Diva Award for The Nutcracker, Le Corsaire ( Czechia), Pushkin Legacy Award (U.S.), Crystal Lyra Award for Pilate's Dream ( Bulgaria) and the UMAI Award (Kazakhstan). He was honored for his contributions to the legacy of Marius Petipa by the Association of The Friends of National Ballet of Panama.A member of CID-UNESCO, Vasily co-founded the International Ballet Festival Dance Open (St. Petersburg) and the Dance Open Award. He also founded the Eurasian Dance Festival (Astana) and the Kremlin Gala (Moscow). In 2016, he co-founded the International Petipa Heritage Fund, later establishing the Petipa Heritage Foundation in California in 2022. In 2023, he organized the Petipa Awards Gala in San Francisco, celebrating excellence in ballet.

SARA KNIGHT

Sara Knight is a graduate of England's Royal Ballet School, an Associate of the Royal Academy of Dance (A.R.A.D.), graduate of the Royal Ballet School Teacher's Training Course (R.B.S. Dip. TTC.) and first British graduate of Russia's Vaganova (Kirov) Ballet Academy. Sara is a recipient of the Royal Ballet Special Award for Excellence personally awarded by Dame Ninette de Valois, founder of the Royal Ballet.
Upon graduation, Sara was accepted to the Eifman Ballet Theatre. She remained in Russia and danced with Leningrad State Ballet Theatre and The Russian Ballet of St. Petersburg. In the West, she danced with England's Northern Ballet Theatre, European Ballet of London, Boston Ballet and was Principal Dancer with Configuration Dance and the Rebecca Rice Dance Company, USA.
?Sara has been invited to teach worldwide including Boston Ballet Company, Boston Ballet School, Tulsa Ballet Center for Dance Education, Cincinnati Ballet School, Laban Centre London, Northern Ballet Theatre of England, Arts Educational School of the UK, Boston Conservatory, and The International Festival of France. Sara has also served as Ballet Mistress for both London's Central School of Ballet and Ellison Ballet of NYC. She was the Artistic Director for the Ballet School of Stamford as well as the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Greenwich Ballet Academy.
In September 2010, Sara founded SLK Ballet. “A school for gifted dancers to prepare for a career as a professional dancer”. SLK Ballet has an annual exchange with both Central Ballet and English National Ballet School in London, UK. Sara continues to teach worldwide.

VLADA KOTTER

Vlada trained at The Royal Ballet School for seven years. During her years of training at the school, she had many opportunities to perform in productions at The Royal Opera House including A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Mariinsky Ballet, Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works and The Nutcracker with The Royal Ballet. At the school Vlada also won several awards including The James Monahan Medal for the Most Promising Choreographer and third place in the Ninette de Valois Choreographic Award. Vlada then continued her training at The School of the Hamburg Ballet before joining Masters of Ballet Academy. She is currently a BSc Dance Science student at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.
She has always had a passion for teaching and in 2022 she completed the ARBTA Associate Teacher Qualification in Classical Ballet. She is thrilled to be joining the Masters of Ballet Academy faculty this year and is very passionate about inspiring and sharing her enthusiasm with her students.

VIVIAN TRIANTAFYLLOPOULOU
Contemporary Teacher
Vivian Triantafyllopoulou comes from Greece, studied contemporary dance at Trinity Laban in London and continued as a chosen member of the Akram Khan Experiment. Then, she joined Jasmin Vardimon 2 professional development course and performed a national tour with pieces from AΦΕ, Vinicius Salles and Jasmin Vardimon.

Since then, she has performed with Bittersuite, Vinicius Salles, Fernanda Prata, Ben Judd and Dionysios Tsaftaridis, Emily Robinson Dance, Follow Through collective, Olga Spyraki and others. She was also a dancer for Melanie Lomoff in The Lowry and Rambert choreographic project, dancer and choreographer's assistant for Hagit Yakira's community project 'On Falling and Recovery' and rehearsal director for Hagit's project Dance for Platinum at Royal Albert Hall (2018).She has performed in theatres like Royal Opera House, Richmix, Sadler's Wells, The Place, Nothern Ballet.She passionately teaches dance, dance theatre and improvisation to kids, adults and professionals. She has taught for leading organisations such as Trinity Laban, The Place, City Lit, Greenwich Dance and others.

Vivian is the founder of workshops; 'Energy and flow', a contemporary dance workshop and 'Movement waves', an outdoors community improvisation workshop-usually happening by the sea!

She created her own dance company in 2019, and her works have been supported by Tripspace, Chisenhale Dance, Arts Council England, Dance Cultural Center and others.