2020 summer faculty
*Summer 2021 information coming soon!


Edward Ellison
Edward Ellison is the founder and artistic director of the Ellison Ballet - Professional Training Program in New York City.  As a dancer, teacher, ballet master, and coach, Mr. Ellison has traveled the world.  He has served as ballet master for Boston Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, Alberta Ballet, and has taught for such companies as American Ballet Theatre, Alvin Ailey, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, and Houston Ballet. Mr. Ellison has also taught for the schools of San Francisco Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Boston Ballet, the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, several universities and colleges throughout the U.S., as wells as Steps on Broadway.  Through his detailed technical and artistic influence, Mr. Ellison's students have been awarded numerous top prizes in international ballet competitions: Moscow IBC; USA (Jackson) IBC; Youth America Grand Prix; World Ballet Competition; and Tanzolymp-Berlin. Graduates of EB-PTP can be seen dancing for some of the most prestigious companies across the globe, and his school has received the YAGP Outstanding School and Outstanding Teacher Awards. Mr. Ellison has also been featured in articles in Dance Magazine, Pointe, and Dance Spirit.
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Jolanta Valeikaite 
Born and raised in Vilnius, Lithuania, Ms. Valeikaite graduated with honors from the National Ballet Academy Vilnius (Vaganova-based). As a student, she received her first major break at the age of 18, debuting in the title role of “Giselle,” whereupon she was promoted to soloist in the Lithuanian National Ballet Company. In 1981, she received a full scholarship to study at the Bolshoi Theater with teachers M. Semionova, T. Vetrova, and B. Akimov. A principal dancer for 10 years with the company, her roles include “Giselle,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Swan Lake,” “Raymonda,” “Nutcracker,” "La Sylphide,” and “Coppelia”. Additionally, she appeared as a guest artist with V. Vasiliev—E. Maximova Company in the U.S.A., France, and at the celebration of the 50th Anniversary Gala of V. Vasiliev at the Bolshoi Theater and R. Page’s “The Nutcracker” in Chicago. In 1988, Ms. Valeikaite received prizes in the International Ballet Competitions in Moscow, Varna, and Paris. Upon moving to Germany in 1992, she became a principal dancer and Bonn Ballet and Essen Ballet. Her roles include: “Romeo and Juliet,” “Three Sisters,” “Cinderella,” “Hamlet”, choreographed by V. Panov & “Before Night Falls”, choreographed by Nils Christy, “Adagio Hammerklavier”  by Hans van Manen, “The Four Last Songs” by Rudi van Dantzig, “7 Symphony” by Toer van Schayk. In 2000 and 2001, Ms. Valeikaite worked as an assistant choreographer in the new production of S. Prokofiev’s “Classical Symphony” and “The Rite of Spring”, choreographed by X.Peng-Wang at the National Ballet Company Vilnius, Lithuania and Central Ballet Company in Beijing, China. In 2001, Ms. Valeikaite moved to the U.S.A. In 2003-2014, she taught at Ballet Arts in Worcester, MA and from 2007-2014, she was a ballet mistress and faculty member at the Festival Ballet Providence in Rhode Island. Since 2014, Ms. Valeikaite has been a faculty member at the Ellison Ballet.
Bat Udval
​Born in Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia, he graduated from the famous Perm Ballet School in Russia. Known internationally for his superb virtuosity and bravura technique, he was a principal dancer with the Russian State Ballet in Moscow, where he danced almost every major role in the classical repertoire and toured to over 40 countries. Mr. Udval received the silver medal at the Moscow International Ballet Competition in 1993 and was invited to dance at major galas around the world, including those associated with Vladimir Vasiliev and Ekaterina Maximova, Olga Lepeshinskaya, and others. His extensive teaching experience includes the Kirov Academy of Ballet, Baltimore School for the Arts, Korea International Ballet Competition, and Asian Ballet Competition. He has been a judge at the Korea International Ballet Competition, Asian Ballet Competition, World Ballet Art Grand Prix Competition, and World Ballet Grand Prix.
Evgenia Singur
Evgenia Singur graduated from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, Russia. After the graduation, she joined the Russian State Ballet in Moscow. Ms Singur was a Soloist with Russian State Ballet where she performed Principal and Soloist roles in the Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Don Q, Spartacus, Scheherazade, Les Sylphides, and many others. With the Russian Ballet she toured internationally to 30 countries. She has performed for the Queen of England, Kings of Oman and Dubai, and for many presidents. She has appeared several times in European and Russian dance magazines representing Grishko in ad campaigns. Her specialties are teaching ballet and character dance. She has taught at the Baltimore School for the Arts and the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, DC.
Maina Gielgud 
Trained by the great Russians including Tamara Karsavina and Lubov Egorova, and later Rosella Hightower, Maina Gielgud has had an incredibly diverse career as a principal with London Festival Ballet and SWRB, an international guest artist, and partnering Rudolf Nureyev, as well as creating works with Maurice Bejart’s XXth Century Ballet. She then directed The Australian Ballet (1983-1997) and the Royal Danish Ballet (1997-1999). Free-lancing since 1999, she guest teaches and coaches around the world, stages her own highly acclaimed classical productions and serves on the jury of International Competitions such as YAGP, Prix de Lausanne. Companies and Schools she works with include: the Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Boston Ballet, La Scala Milan. Maina also gives regular master classes, specialising in classical repertoire, mime and stagecraft at the Royal Ballet School, National Ballet School Toronto, Ellison Ballet and Ballet Academy East. In 2018, Maina choreographed a full length Cinderella for the Goh Academy in Vancouver. This year, she staged her own production of the full length The Sleeping Beauty, for Jo’burg Ballet. Future projects, after staging Aurora’s Wedding for BAE and extracts from La Sylphide for Ellison Ballet in New York in Spring 2019, will be guest teaching for Dutch National Ballet, NBS Toronto, and Queensland Ballet.
Gaiane Akopian 
Gaiane Akopian graduated from the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St,Petersburg, Russia and the Yerevan State Choreographic College, where she had the privilege to study under the two ballet legends, A. Vaganova’s former students F. Balabina, and N. Dudinskaya. Ms.Akopian is on faculty at the Ellison Ballet Summer Intensive, Joffrey Ballet School Trainee Program, Joffrey Ballet School Summer Intensive, and Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers in NYC. She has choreographed and prepared students for competitions as well as staged numerous ballet performances. Gaiane performed around the world and has been recognized by critics worldwide.  She danced in numerous classical and contemporary ballets and performed as principal dancer with the Armenian National Ballet Theater, Thuringian State Ballet, Germany and GR Ballet Company. Some of her leading roles include Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Giselle, Carmen, The Nutcracker, La Fille Mal Gardee, Cinderella, Firebird, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Wolfe, Ara Beautiful, Scheherazade, Eugene Onegin, Enigma, CanCan, Les Liasons Dangereuses, and various Balanchine pieces. She was acknowledged by the critics of the Ballet International Tanz Aktuell European magazine as one of Germany’s best dancers, in 1995, and won the Grand-Prix as the dancer of the year in 1997. In 2002, Ms. Akopian was praised in the Musis Sacrum book titled “100 Years Theaterhaus Gera”, (Germany). In 2006, she appeared in “Amazing Women of West Michigan” book among the most influential women of the West Michigan community. She worked with figure skaters in Patterson Ice Center, Greater Grand Rapids Figure Skating Club, MI - registered with the United Skates Figure Association. Ms. Akopian worked as a Founder Artistic Director, and Board Of Directors member of Michigan Ballet Academy. Ms. Akopian is very committed to excellence, likes to share her rich stage experience and feels very proud of her students who perform professionally in various ballet companies after studying under her guidance. 
Dominic Walsh
Walsh was born in Elgin, Illinois and started his training with Lisa Boehm, Frank Boehm, Warren Conover, and Larry Long in Chicago. He joined Houston Ballet in 1989, and was promoted to Principal Dancer by 1996. Walsh danced throughout Asia, Europe, and North America and performed all the major classics including Swan Lake, Giselle, Don Quixote, Romeo & Juliet, and Manon with international stars such as Nina Ananiashvili and Alessandra Ferri. Walsh danced Houston Ballet’s entire contemporary repertoire, and Ben Stevenson created numerous roles for him including Marc Antony in Cleopatra. In 1998, Walsh created Flames of Eros on Houston Ballet. This work won the Choo-San Goh Award for Choreography. He created three more works for Houston Ballet. In 2002, while still a Principal Dancer and Choreographer with the Company, he founded Dominic Walsh Dance Theater. After the company’s debut in February 2003, Dance Magazine declared, “At last Houston has a contemporary dance company on par with its symphony, opera and ballet companies.” The company’s roster included works by Walsh, Mats Ek, Jiří Kylián, Mauro Bigonzetti, and Matthew Bourne. In 2004, Walsh left to pursue Dominic Walsh Dance Theater full-time. He won a second Choo-San Goh Award in 2007 and received a 2008 Princess Grace Award, both for The Trilogy and Wolfgang Amadeaus Mozart. In 2012, he was inducted into the Fox Valley Hall of Fame. Walsh continues to receive commissions to set and create works nationally and internationally. He served as the Resident Choreographer for Sarasota Ballet of Florida, creating/staging Wolfgang for Webb (2008), The Trilogy (2009), Time out of Line (2011), and Claire de Lune (2011). In addition to his travels throughout the U.S. and abroad, he is a guest teacher and coach for both companies and academies and stages the works of his longtime mentor, Ben Stevenson. The Carl Jung Center has shown interest in Walsh’s creative process and he has given lectures at Houston’s Jung Center. He has written for various publications on dance, and was a regular columnist for Origin Magazine. Walsh made his film debut as a co-director at the Brussels Short Film Festival in Spring 2015 with Malta Kano, TX.  That same year, he became a proud father and closed DWDT after 12 seasons. Last month, Walsh made his debut as Costume Designer for Stevenson’s Cinderella with the National Ballet of China.
Olga Bazilevskaya 
A graduate of Moscow Conservatory College (Russia), Ms. Bazilevskaya brings with her 30 years of experience in music.  Between 1974 and 1990, she taught piano at The Music School in Moscow and the Moscow Military Music College.  Ms. Bazilevskaya moved to New York in 1990 where she was the musical director of Ballet Hispanico for seven years as well as Gelsey Kirkland Ballet for six years.  For over twenty years she has worked with professional dance companies and schools as an accompanist, such as Joffrey Ballet, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, American Ballet Theater, School of American Ballet, Juilliard School, Ballet Trockadero, Ellison Ballet, Steps on Broadway and Ballet Academy East.  Olga, also, is an accomplished piano teacher and has developed a unique music workshop for dancers.
Elizabeth Sullivan
​Elizabeth A. Sullivan was a professional ballerina with the Cleveland/San Jose and Boston Ballet companies. After earning a BA at Dartmouth College and an MA at Columbia University, Elizabeth returned to dance in her current capacity as a wellness coach, consultant, and teacher. Since 2011, she has taught workshops and seminars in the School of American Ballet, The Juilliard School, Ellison Ballet, the Boston Ballet School, Greenwich Ballet Academy, and the Kansas City Ballet School, among others. Elizabeth coaches young dancers and their parents in her private practice, helping them navigate the ins and outs of the dance world. Her dancers have trained at elite schools like the Royal Ballet and the English National Ballet Schools in London and the JKO School at American Ballet Theatre, won medals at Youth America Grand Prix, been invited to compete at IBC Jackson and Varna, and received job offers from major world companies like American Ballet Theatre and the English National Ballet. She is a certified Wellness Coach through the American College of Sports Medicine and Wellcoaches School of Coaching, as well as the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in NYC. Elizabeth participated in the "Ask the Expert" educational series with YAGP in October 2018 and a video of that conversation can be viewed here: https://yagp.org/ask-the-expert/
Accompanists
Irina Fedorova
​Olga Bazilevskaya
​Igor Pancevski
Alexander Izbitser
​Elena Tishina

Faculty and Guest Faculty have included
Jason Ambrose (contemporary)
Pascal Autrand (classical, contemporary)
Tatiana Berenova (classical)
Larisa Calero (character)
Vladimir Dvorovenko (character)
Lyubov Fominih (classical)
Dionisia Garcia (flamenco)
Gabriel Garcia (theater dance)
Maina Gielgud (classical, mime/acting)
Gelsey Kirkland (classical)
Nadia Pavlenko (classical)
​Olga Pavlova (classical)
Yulia Rakova (classical)
Anne-Sophie Rodriguez (classical)
Dmitri Roudnev (classical)
​Elisabeth Sullivan (wellness)