 |  | Alyona Yakovleva Artistic Director of IBC and RBAI Ms. Yakovleva began her training at the Academy of Ballet in Novosibirsk and continued to St. Petersburg State University in Russia, graduating in 1999 with a degree certifying her in Professional Ballet Dance Performance; Choreography; and Ballet, Character, and Historical Dance Instruction. In the summer of 2006, she completed a seminar at the Vaganova Ballet Academy of St. Petersburg, Russia, on the preservation and uniformity of the Vaganova Method of ballet instruction. |
| As a Professor of Performance Arts at Dong Duk's Women's University in Seoul, Korea, Ms. Yakovleva performed, taught, and choreographed for such renowned organizations as Universal Ballet Company, Chong-Dong Theatre and MadeInDance Company. In 2001, Ms. Yakovleva began teaching for the Clara R. Noyes Academy of Ballet Internationale, in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA where she was an instructor of Ballet, Pointe, Variations, Character and Historical Dance for four years. In 2005, with her husband, Sgt. Russ Smith, (ret.), Ms. Yakovleva formed the Russian Ballet Academy of Indiana and later the Indiana Ballet Company. | |
Ms. Yakovleva's classical repertoire includes Sleeping Beauty , Giselle , Don Quixote , Paquita , The Nutcracker , Chopiniana , and La Esmeralda . Her contemporary repertoire includes much choreography by Leonid Jacobsen, of St. Petersburg, Russia. She also worked with Indra Reinholde of Riga, Latvia -- who was choreographing exclusively for Ms. Yakovleva, Vivaldi's Duet for Violin and Orchestra , and several others. She also worked with MadelnDance Company, Seoul, Korea, in the production Floating & Walking ; and many leading roles in the productions for Gregory Hancock Dance Theater, including It's all Greek to Me , Dracula , and The Hunchback of Notre Dame . In 2007 she danced feature roles in the Indiana Ballet Company's On Earth We Stand and Love and Gravity (choreography by Nicholas Owens). Ms. Yakovleva also recently produced the original ballet, Phantom of the Opera , that met with rave reviews. Awards:
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