Our Director

Viktor Yeliohin, Director and Professor of the Ballet/Choreographer. 

A former soloist of the renowned Donetsk Ballet Company of Ukraine, he now owns his dance school, the Viktor Yeliohin International Ballet Academy in Lancaster, PA.  Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Viktor began his ballet studies in 1967, graduating from the Tashkent State Higher School of National Dance and Choreography of Uzbekistan. He holds the degree of Professor of Choreography from the prestigious Ukrainian Academy of Dance in Kiev, Ukraine, which was presented in May, 1995.

Viktor began his professional ballet career in Samarkand, Uzbekistan in 1975. Continuing in 1976, in Donetsk, Ukraine, he performed as a soloist with the renowned Donetsk Ballet Company of Ukraine. During the 1979-1980 season he was the recipient of the First Soloist Award for the company. His major classical ballet credits include: Swan Lake, Le Corsaire, Walpurgis Night, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Kiddy and Karlson, Fountain of Bakhchisaray, La Bayadere, Spartacus, Romeo and Juliette, and many other full length ballet performances.

 

Viktor first toured with the renowned Donetsk Ballet Company to United States in January 1989. Touring cities like Baltimore, Washington DC, New York City and Philadelphia. In 1990 Viktor toured with Nutcracker Ballet in Stockton, CA. In May of 1991 Viktor once again toured the United States with performances of Walpurgis Night, Giselle, and Gala Classical Ballet Pas De Deux, and contemporary dance in Jackson, MS. 

Since 1992 he has been teaching ballet, choreographing and staging dance in the United States, primarily teaching in ballet schools in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. His affiliation with the Donetsk Ballet Company and the Vadim Pisarev School of Choreographic Mastery continues as he stages and choreographs children’s parts for their multi-state annual US tour of Nutcracker produced by Viktor Yeliohin International Ballet Academy.

Mr. Yeliohin’s students have participated in Youth America Grand Prix dance competition and the Jewels Festival/Competition, he has former students dancing in companies such as the Joffrey Ballet, Martha Graham, the Broadway production of The Lion King, and other regional ballet companies. Students of Mr. Yeliohin have gone on to train at the Kirov Academy in Washington, DC, and the Bolshoi Ballet School in Moscow, Russia. His students have also danced with international companies in Germany and the renowned Donetsk Ballet Company of Ukraine. Viktor teaches ballet internationally as well as teaching summer courses throughout the United States.

The dream of owning his own studio became a reality in 2010, when the Viktor Yeliohin International Ballet Academy opened in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Ballet classes are taught primarily in the Vaganova Syllabus in the Russian pedagogy.  Along with directing his ballet academy and sponsoring the annual Nutcracker performances held in Lancaster with his former company, Viktor began sponsoring an America-Ukraine Summer Ballet Camp in July, 2015.  Dancers from the United States and Ukraine attend this multicultural camp where they have classes with teachers from America and Ukraine. 

Viktor brings to his studio and his students a passion for the beauty of dance and a compassion for and belief in every child’s potential. At VYIBA the students will find a ballet master dedicated to education and enjoyment of the art of dance, while providing a safe and welcoming atmosphere for all dancers, regardless of one’s skill level.