I’ve learned classical ballet as a child in Moldova from teachers, who danced in Kyiv, Saint Petersburg and Moscow. The gender roles that this genre offers are painfully limited: if you’re labelled an Odette, convincing the ‘jury‘ that it’s that very same arabesque for Carmen and Esmeralda is a challenge. Swirling my way into a stand-up comedy theatre during my Bachelor’s in Journalism did not offer appealing alternatives either. ‘A pretty blonde walks into the store…‘ the sketch kept insisting, unless I scripted my own lines.

In 2012, shortly after the Dying Swan scored me my final dance award - Young professional ballet dancers competition in Odessa, Ukraine - I moved to Leipzig, Germany. There, next to my Master’s, I taught an advanced ballet class for adults and explored new genres: modern, swing, contemporary. Having added musical theatre, jazz, tango and salsa to the list, I continued dancing and teaching in Vienna, Austria, but the latter took me to a different field - designing and delivering trainings for civil society activists and communications professionals from nonprofits on how to create impactful public campaigns. 

I’ve entered the roaring (20)20’ with a personal feminist agenda: we are all physical beings, and it is also a political act to choose through which narratives I let my own body move. Some 200 dance classes later with the Berkeley Ballet Theatre, California, Steps on Broadway and Broadway Dance Centre, New York City, I’ve developed a musical theatre toolbox to help you compose and dance through your own story. 

The dance school of my choice

Dancers, choreographers and educators, from whom I’ve had the privilege to learn the most over the past three years: Kaori Ogasawara, Khori Pertinaud, Skye Mattox, Christine Cornish-Smith, Shannon Lewis, Jessica Lee Goldyn, James Kinney, Robert Greer, Jason Wise, Billy Griffin, Al Blackstone, Monika Zörrer, Jessica Wurzer, Manuela Bayer.

My feminist lineage

Authors, activists and researchers, whose books have guided my work: Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Roxanne Gay, adrienne maree brown, Octavia Butler, Angela Davis, Mithu Sanyal, Layla F. Saad, Toni Morrison, Mona Eltahawy, Maya Angelou, Gertrude Stein.