Our Teachers

Valentina Pavlova (Principal)

Valentina studied ballet for 8 years at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow. After graduation in 1985 she worked as a principal ballet dancer at the Moscow Festival Theatre. In 1991 Valentina was invited by a prominent Russian choreographer Vladimir Vasiliev to join the State Kremlin Ballet of Russia as a soloist and principal dancer.

Her repertoire includes: Swan Lake, Cinderella, Nutcracker, Giselle, Don Quixote, Ruslan and Lyudmila, Napoleon Bonaparte, Tom Sawyer, Sleeping Beauty, Paquita, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and The Walpurgis Night.

During her career, Valentina toured worldwide across Great Britain, Japan, Ireland, France, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Taiwan, China, Norway and Canary Islands.

Valentina has worked with prominent Russian choreographers like Yuri Grigorovich, Vladimir Vasiliev, Andrei Petrov and Marius Liepa.

Valentina has taught ballet classes for professionals when she worked in the Kremlin Ballet and in Moscow Ballet La Classique. Valentina also conducted rehearsals. She enjoys working with children, and has extensive experience teaching youngsters in Russia, Japan and Great Britain.

In 2004 Valentina choreographed a composition from ‘Swan Lake’ with students from Charles Campbell Secondary School.

Nadejda Vassilieva

Ms Vassilieva is a graduate of the Vaganova Academy in St Petersburg, class of 1980. She graduated under the direction of Madame Tatiana Alexandrovna Udalenkova as an Artiste du Ballet.

Ms Vassilieva commenced her career as a ballerina in Ekaterinburg in the State Ballet Theatre. Later she danced with the Classical Ballet Company in St Petersburg appearing in solo roles in Giselle, Swan Lake, Les Sylfides and other similar classical repertoire.

From 1986 to 1999 she was a soloist with Rimsky Korsakov Opera and Ballet Theatre in St Petersburg. With this company under the artistic direction of Nikita Dolgushin she danced a wide repertoire of classical and neo classical roles including the principal role La Spectre de la Rose, Le Corsaire, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker and Esmeralda. She has toured extensively in Germany, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Israel and Japan.

In 1997 she danced the principal role in opera The Demon by Rubinstein for the Bregenzer Festepiele in Austria. A role specifically created for her by the Australian choreographer Ross Coleman. For her career farewell performance she danced this role again at Zurich Opernhaus in 1999.

Since retiring Ms Vassilieva has begun teaching and her work includes classes for Madame Gora's school in Zurich, L&R MacKay Masterclasses, Ecole Classique in Sydney and private lessons.