Irina Lerman
Ballerina. Choreographer. Movement Director
The Team
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Irina Lerman
Founder
Ballet, Character, Repertoire, Neoclassical
Graduated from Vaganova Ballet Academy and joined the Mariinskiy Ballet in the same year, 2011.
During 7 years of her career, she performed classical, neoclassical, and contemporary repertoire including
G, Balanchine's ballets, M. Petipa's, A. Ratmanskiy's, and Sasha Waltz. Participated in tours with a Company in Europe, Japan, China, UAE, and America. At the age of 21, Irina made her first choreography production at the Stage of Mariinsky Theatre. named "Minds Games" on music of M. Richter.
She obtained her Master’s Degree as a choreographer in 2016 at Vaganova Ballet Academy and won Silver Medal at the International Ballet Competition in Riga, Latvia. Trained at the Netherlands Dance Theatre Summer Intensive, participated at the Workshops of Wayne McGregor, Edward Clug. Performed at the Closing Ceremony of Olimpic Games in 2014, and the Closing Ceremony of Formula 1 in Monaco in 2018. Made several ballet productions as a choreographer for ballet companies including Mariinskiy Ballet, students of Vaganova Ballet Academy, Brussels International School, Detroit Opera House, and more.
From 2019 to the end of 2020 Lead Soloist at the Atlantic Ballet of Canada, Moncton, NB.
From 2021 freelance artist, teacher and choreographer.
Calley Skalnik
Ballet, Variations, Technique
Advanced Level
Calley Skalnik is a First Soloist with The National Ballet of Canada and has performed internationally in Moscow, Paris, Hamburg, San Francisco and New York.
Her repertoire includes Aurora in The Sleeping
Beauty, The Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker and featured roles in SwanLake and Giselle, among many others.
Alysa Pires
Guest Choreographer
Choreographer Alysa Pires was born and raised on the traditional territory of the W̱SÁNEĆ people near Victoria, B.C. Her works have been performed by companies such as New York City Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, Alberta Ballet, Ballet Kelowna, and Ballet Edmonton.
Alysa recently became the first Canadian woman to create a work for New York City Ballet, making her Lincoln Center debut in May 2023 with Standard Deviation. The work was subsequently presented at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
Pires began working with the National Ballet of Canada as part of their Choreographic Workshop (2016-2018) where she created her critically acclaimed work In Between. She represented the company at the 13th International Competition for the Erik Bruhn Prize and was then appointed Choreographic Associate by Karen Kain, a position that she held from 2019-2022. Other works for the NBoC include Frenzied Order (2019), in a state of vanishing (2021), and Skyward (2022).
Pires’ commissions for Ballet Kelowna include her full-length Macbeth (2022), and MAMBO (2018), which has become a signature work for the company, being presented as part of the 2018 Fall for Dance North Festival in Toronto, the China Arts Expo in Beijing, and touring extensively across Canada.
Pires is a three time participant of the New York Choreographic Institute and was one of the 2017 winners of Northwest Dance Project’s International Choreographic Competition. She also creates under the umbrella of Alysa Pires Dance Projects. Alysa is an Honours BFA graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University.
Järvi Raudsepp
Ballet, Variations, Technique,
Character Dance
Advanced & Intermediate Levels
Järvi Raudsepp began her career at the age of 17, and was a company member with several international companies through the years (Estonian National Ballet, Orlando Ballet, Ontario Ballet Theatre, and Ballet Rhode Island).
Järvi has taught classical ballet since 2010 (Vaganova method), and has been a member of faculty and guest teacher across multiple studios within the GTA. She has won awards for her choreography, and is a rehearsal coach for pre-professional dancers entering Youth America Grand Prix.
Many of her students have gone on to professional dance careers, and have graduated from the dance programs at Toronto Metropolitan University and York University.
Järvi is thrilled to be a part of the process of guiding each new generation of dance artists.
Stefanie Leigh
Ballet, Repertoire, Pointe
Intermediate Level
Stefanie Leigh is a ballet dancer and poet based in Toronto. She was awarded a full scholarship throughout her ballet training at Houston Ballet Academy. In 1993, she was invited by Ben Stevenson to join the main company as an apprentice. In 1994, Keven McKenzie invited her to become a member of American Ballet Theatre where she danced from 1994-1999. During her tenure, she danced the full canon of classical ballets, including La Bayadere, Romeo and Juliet, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Cinderella, Etudes, George Balanchine's Ballet Imperial as well as Lar Lubovitch's Othello, Agnes de Mille's Rodeo, among many others. She danced on stages from The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City to the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. She is thankful for the opportunity to pass on her knowledge to dancers today, from adult beginners to professionals.
Alena Loboda
Ballet, Assistant of Choreographer
Alena Loboda found herself enchanted with classical ballet when the art form challenged her to explore the beauty in every emotion, both positive and negative. This lead to her experimentation with choreography as well as a furthering of her education in the Vaganova method abroad at the Perm' State Choreographic College (Perm', Russia), the Kiev State Ballet School (Kiev, Ukraine), and Koltun Ballet Boston (Boston, USA).
Alena has danced for Columbia Classical Ballet, (Columbia, SC), Coastal City Ballet (Vancouver, BC) and continues to perform in Toronto, including appearances with Kulkat Dance Entertainment, Medusa Entertainment, MM Entertainment, and Little Pear Garden Dance Company. She also teaches on a part-time basis at many Toronto dance schools including Star Dance Centre and MCFAA.
Her choreography and performance was recognized with the Audience Choice Award at the Lights Dance Festival 2018.
