LIUDMILA RYZHOVA

Liudmila Ryzhova grew up in Moscow and this is where she started her dance training at the age of 9. Since that moment, she has continued to dedicate her life to learning and sharing her excitement for ballet.

She graduated in 1973 from the Moscow State Academy of Choreography, one of the oldest and most prestigious schools of ballet in the world.

Liudmila later joined The Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre, where she performed as a principal dancer in most classical and modern ballets. She also toured many Western countries. In 1995 she received her Diploma in Teaching and Choreography from the Moscow Academy of Arts. Her awards include the Best Role at the Moscow Theatrical Festival in 1976 with Snow Maiden and in 1986 the Deserving Actress of Russia. Liudmila is currently the Ballet Master of the Moscow Ballet RFB where she happily helps the troupe of ballet dancers by sharing her valuable experience with them.

Her teaching experience includes working for Rome’s Teatro dell´Opera (Don Quixote) and many ballet schools throughout Asia.

SVETLANA SHIKINA

Svetlana Shikina is originally from Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. When she was a child, she moved to Perm in pursuit of her dance studies there. In 1985, she graduated from the Perm Academy of Ballet, one of the best schools in the former USSR. Later, she became part of the ballet troupe of the Chelyanbinsk Opera and Ballet Theatre, where she discovered her fascination for teaching and soon in 1993 she combined her two passions, ballet and teaching, when she joined the Moscow Ballet RFB. Here, she became the dancers’ teacher, which she has been since then. She has also sporadically been an instructor in many schools in Japan.