Viktor Yeliohin

Viktor Yeliohin is a former soloist with the Donetsk Ballet of Ukraine with a career spanning 20 years.  He graduated from the Tashkent State Higher School of National Dance and Choreography in Uzbekistan and he holds the degree of Professor of Choreography from the prestigious Ukrainian Academy of Dance in Kiev, Ukraine. The first tour of the Donetsk Ballet Company in the United States occurred in January 1989.  After returning to the Ukraine for a time, Mr.Yeliohin again traveled returned to the United States with the Donetsk Ballet’s Nutcracker tour in Stockton, CA in 1990.

The next tour of the Donetsk Ballet began in May 1991, in Jackson, MS, and during this time the company lost their promoter, causing them to remain in Philadelphia, PA.  The group began doing performances in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland and several members of the company decided to stay in the United States after the collapse of the former Soviet Union.  At this time, Mr. Yeliohin decided to make the United States his home.

Since 1991 Mr. Yeliohin has been teaching ballet, character, pointe and variation as well as choreographing and staging dance in the United States. He staged his first full length performance of Swan Lake in Hagerstown, MD in 1992.   The annual United States performances of Nutcracker with the Donetsk Ballet have been ongoing in local communities since 1992, and the children’s parts have been staged by Mr. Yeliohin since that time.  The annual Nutcracker performances co-sponsored by US Intron and Ballet Theater of Lancaster continue to delight the public and the participating dancers each December.

Mr. Yeliohin has been teaching in studios in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland since 1992.  His students have participated in Youth America Grand Prix dance competition and he has former students who have danced in companies such as the Joffrey Ballet, Martha Graham Company, Alvin Ailey Second Company, Ballet Met, City Dance in Washington, DC and other regional ballet and modern companies.

Through his ongoing relationship with the Donetsk Ballet and its Artistic Director, Vadim Pisarev, he teaches ballet internationally at the Vadim Pisarev School of Choreographic Mastery. Mr. Yeliohin also teaches summer courses and master classes at Cecchetti Council of America, Virginia School of the Arts, Atlanta Youth Ballet, and other dance studios throughout the United States.