Professional Ballet Training and Education
Initial ballet training at the age of four was gained in England at the Rambert Ballet School with Marie Rambert as the Artistic Director. Nadya then continued her ballet training in England studying not only at the Arts Educational School in London but also with Cleo Nordi, a former soloist with Anna Pavlova's ballet company, Errol Addison, Enrico Cecchetti's protégé, Alexis Rassine, former principal dancer with the Royal Ballet and partner of Dame Margot Fonteyn. Dame Beryl Grey was the artistic director of both The Arts Educational School and of The London Festival Ballet where Nadya obtained her first dancing position as an apprentice at the age of sixteen. As an advanced dance student Nadya was invited by the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, Yuri Grigorovitch, to train and rehearse with the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow. The invitation from Yuri Grigorovitch came about due to the fact that Nadya's two cousins', Alla and Svetlana Scherebinina were both respected members of the Bolshoi Ballet. Nadya's training included study with Marina Semyonova (former pupil of Vaganova) and private coaching from Alla Scherebinina (former principal of the Bolshoi Ballet) and Asaf Messerer (Premier Danseur and Ballet Master). Thereafter Nadya was invited to St. Petersburg, Russia to train exclusively with the Kirov Ballet Company, where she studied initially for three years with both Natalya Dudinskaya (the former Artistic Director of the Kirov and prima ballerina of the Kirov) and Ninel Kurgapkina (former prima ballerina with the Kirov Ballet and current Principal Ballet Mistress of the Kirov). Nadya's association and collaboration with the Kirov Ballet Company and the Vaganova Ballet Academy continues through to the present day. Nadya has also been very fortunate to have been coached by Gennadi Selyutsky, Elena Evteyeva and Tekir Baltacheyev with her husband, Golden Koscuik, in some of the great classical pas de deux including but not limited to "Swan Lake" and "Romeo and Juliet".

Performance Highlights
Natalya Dudinskaya of the Kirov Ballet gave Nadya the opportunity to dance "Myrthe" from the ballet "Giselle" in St Petersburg, Russia at the age of twenty-two. Ninel Kurgapkina, Principal Ballet Mistress of the Kirov Ballet has coached Nadya in many different principal roles for international performance including: "Sleeping Beauty", "Giselle", "Les Sylphides", "Swan Lake", and "Madame Butterfly", a world premier. Many international and domestic ballet companies have invited Nadya to appear as a guest artist and to stage productions of well known ballets including: "Paquita", "Swan Lake", "Les Sylphides", and "La Bayadere, Kingdom of the Shades". Nadya was commissioned to stage a "site specific" ballet for Expo 86 about an ancient Native Indian legend. Additional highlights include a Taiwan tour "Stars of the Soviet Ballet" as a guest artist with Leonid Kozlov, Artistic Director and principal dancer. Leonid Kozlov was a principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet and during the second half of Mr Kozlov's career he was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. Nadya danced the Lavrovsky "Romeo and Juliet" balcony pas de deux with Kozlov, and Nadya also danced in his staging of the ballet "Walpurgis Night". She has danced as a principal dancer with a number of ballet companies around the world including: Covent Garden Opera Ballet, Northern Ballet Theatre, Theatre Ballet of San Francisco, Idaho Junior Ballet and Festival Ballet Nikic Monte Carlo, where Nadya first met and worked with her friend the great Rudolf Nureyev. Nadya still regularly performs principal roles with her husband and colleague Golden Koscuik. Their repertoire includes: "Swan Lake", "Romeo and Juliet", "Les Sylphides", "Nutcracker", "Madame Butterfly", "La Traviata", "Orfeo and Euridice" and "The lady of the Camelias". Nadya and Golden Koscuik have appeared together as guest artists in Vancouver, Canada, Muenster, Germany, Thousand Oaks, California, at the Orange County Imagination Celebration and have successfully produced numerous productions throughout the Los Angeles area.

Television and Theatre Credits
Nadya was coached by Alexis Rassine in Kitri's variation from Don Quixote, Act 3, Odette's variation from Swan Lake, Act 2, Lilac Fairy variation from Sleeping Beauty, Act 3, for the BBC, London. Nadya also appeared on Television in the Middle East dancing, the Lilac Fairy from Sleeping Beauty. While Nadya was residing in Vancouver, British Columbia she appeared on CBC Radio as a principal actress playing the role of Olga, the wife of Picasso. Nadya was invited by Canadian actor and Director, Leon Pownall, to choreograph and dance in Mr Pownall's production of "Oh what a lovely War", which met with rave reviews. Most recently, Nadya has had the privilege of instructing Actors, Penelope Cruz and Brittany Murphy, however, from 1973-76 while working in England for a number of classical theatre companies Nadya had the opportunity of instructing actors in advanced movement skills, including: Sir Anthony Hopkins, Dame Diana Rigg, Frank Finley, Nicholas Clay, Nigel Terry, David Bradley Michael Hordern, Anna Cataret, Peter Woodward, Neil Fitzwiliam, and Alan Bates

Teaching Credits
When Nadya was first training as a dancer in St Petersburg, Russia she had the great privilege to not only take company class taught by Natalya Dudinskaya but also to instruct a few company classes and those in attendance were: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Yuri Solovyov, Alla Sizova, Irina Kolpakova, Alla Osipenko, Gabriella Komleva. The overwhelming impression was that all of the dancers in the Kirov Ballet Company at that time were both incredibly proficient technically and artistically liberated to dance the roles to perfection. Nadya also discovered that as she personally became acquainted with the pure Vaganova method that she was learning at the Kirov she herself felt the incredible surge of pure joy in the physical sensation of executing each movement with technical ease, confidence, artistic freedom and technical proficiency. The teaching experience which Nadya gained while studying in St Petersburg, Russia was invaluable as it sowed the seeds for her driving passion to share and pass on the great Vaganova legacy as she was quick to realize that the authentic Vaganova training in its entirety was not available in the west and that the training would be invaluable to western dancers as it was well nigh free from injury when it was correctly taught and would provide any dancer who studied it a long and productive career in dance. This fact has motivated Nadya to write her book on the Vaganova legacy and the training so that she could help dancers who aspire to a career in dance to achieve their goal and feel great while performing and dance without the risk of injury.

Nadya operated her first ballet school and company in Vancouver, Canada from 1980-1992. While in Vancouver she also instructed private dance students at the Goh Ballet Academy over a period of twelve years. Many of her students went on to compete at the Jackson, Mississippi, Prix de Lausanne and Varna ballet competitions. Several of her students were accepted into the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, The Royal Ballet, England and The Croatian National Ballet. In 1992, Nadya opened her current school, now known as Masterpiece Dance Theatre, with personal friend and colleague Rudolf Nureyev as the Founding Honorary Patron. Ninel Kurgapkina is also a Patroness of Masterpiece Dance Theatre.

Among a few of her teaching credits include: Harvard Westlake School, Los Angeles; LA School of Gymnastics; University of Southern California, USC (School of Theatre); Peridance Center, New York; Sacramento Theatre Ballet; Israeli Classical Ballet; and the Conference for CORPS de Ballet International Inc. held at Pacific Northwest Ballet Company. She is the Co-founder of the West Coast Classical Ballet Society, a non profit organization based in Southern California. She is married to her husband-colleague Golden Koscuik with whom she operates the company and school.

DETAILED CREDITS:
• The J. Paul Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA. (Summer 2006, Choreographer, Family Festival/Degas)
• "Amahl and the Night Visitors", Grace Lutheran Church, Culver City, CA. (December 2006, Choreographer, Performer)
• Peace Through Music and Dance Benefit, Pasadena, CA. (September 2007, Co-producer, Choreographer, Performer)
• "Visions of Swan Lake", West Hollywood, CA. (Masterpiece Dance Theatre production, Choreographer, Performer)
• Los Angeles Opera, Music Center Plaza (Special Event Choreographer, "Fedora")
• Geffen Playhouse (Producer of an independent dance production with dancers from St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia)
• Dance Coach to Timothy Goeble, (2001-2002, Olympic Bronze Medalist)
• Dance Theatre of Munster, Germany (Principal Dancer/Ballet Master, 1989-1991, Artistic Director, Pieter van der Sloot)
• American Youth Symphony Orchestra (Guest Choreographer/Performer)
• Torrance Symphony (Guest Choreographer/Performer)
• Adjudicator for two international ballet competitions (Normandy, France, "Jacques Ibert" and Osaka, Japan, Masako Ohya)
• James Armstrong Theatre, Torrance, CA., "Legends of Dance Awards" (Producer)
• James Armstrong Theatre, Torrance, CA. "Mythodance" (Producer, Choreographer, Performer)
• Torrance Cultural Arts Center, Learning Center for Arts Excellence (Ballet Master)
• Verona Lyric Opera/Ballet Company, Italy (asst. to Choreographer Pieter van der Sloot (Opera, "Aida")
• Lora Donna Venchi School of Ballet, Verona, Italy (Guest Ballet Master)
• University of Southern California-USC (2000-2001, Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Theatre Arts)
• University of California at Los Angeles-UCLA (Dance Instructor, Summer Program)
• Orange County Performing Arts Center, Imagination Celebration (1994/95, Performer and Instructor)
• Vice President of the West Coast Classical Ballet Society (1995-2007, a non profit organization)

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Family and beginnings-
My latent interests in dance (beginning around the age of 17 years) most likely came into being as a result of my parents professional theatrical backgrounds and of course that of growing up in Hollywood during the late 60s and 70s. My father, Ray Kyle, now dearly departed, was a Broadway performer and Actor who first gave me the zest for theatre and travel, having taking me at a young age to many Eastern block countries. He used to love to tell the story about how he replaced the innovative Bob Fosse during one of his musical tours. My beloved mother, Lilian Kyle, continues to work in the music industry and lives in England and from time to time pitches in with work for us here in Los Angeles, but as of lately has been working with Actor, Lou Gossett on one or more projects and is also helping to manage “Northern Soul” singer, songwriter, and musician, Angelo Starr. Lilian Kyle is Masterpiece Dance Theatre’s official European Representive.

I have a wonderful sister who is a Make-up Artist and Cosmetician and she and her husband live North of Los Angeles as do numerous other cousins. There is much more to this family connection than meets the eye, but these are just some little tid-bits.

How this all came about is somewhat of a mystery, given the fact that I spent the greater portion of my early education being boarded at military schools, eight years as a matter of fact, but was able to finally graduate with highest military honors and at the rank of Captain and A-Company Commander. I was not placed in military school because I was a “bad boy” or anything like that. It was a matter that my parents were dealing with other issues in their lives, so lets leave it at that. I did get a very good education however, but I did not see as much home time as some other children may have received given there same age and growing up in the same city.

I was able to count among my best friends before he went mental was, Christian Brando, another military educated brat. Oh, and some of the other Hollywood celeb friends who used to frequent our home were the Barrymore’s, Carradine’s, and the Bergen’s. As a matter of record, I even recommended that Drew Barrymore take up ballet lessons with one of my first dance teachers, and she did, and as they say, the rest is history.

In my early teens as a high school student in Beverly Hills I was exposed to a variety of sports activities, however, excelling in many sports, most notably Tennis and the Healing and Martial Arts, a penchant which still beckons me until this day. I thought one day I was go to become a professional Tennis player because I was able to make it to the quarter finals match playing against John McEnroe and winning one set off of him.

If I run into John again some time, I must tell him that he taught me something about “anger management” at any early age.

Then there were rumors of me becoming an Actor. Now I did receive a scholarship offer to attend the Lee Strasberg acting school, but at the time, this was not my bag. I actually discovered my joy for dance by way of joining a Polish Folk Dance group via an older Polish “brother in law”.

Strangely enough, I found myself working through “scene study” with the late, hugely talented, under-credited, loved by the majority of his close friends, and often inebriated, actor John Drew Barrymore. As it turned out, John along with my father and another couple of friends joined me in acting and dancing in a USC - student produced film around the same time that I was just getting more involved with my interests in dance.

As my early dance training began to take root, I had the good fortunate of being offered a number of dance merit scholarships, and first attending the Smaltzoff Ballet Arts center, then the Lichine Ballet Academy, and eventually on to the Stanley Holden Dance Center in West Los Angeles. With Stanley I used to play Tennis and win, but he did correct me much when it came to ballet. He was great guy and very very funny, just ask Misha Baryishnikov.

During these formative years my dance teachers included Yuri and J. Erglis Smaltzoff, Irina Kosmovska, Tanya Lichine, Alexander Minz, Irina Baronava, David Gayle, Yurek Lazovsky, Stanley Holden, Margaret Hills, Patricia Denise, Paul Maure, and George Zoritch, who was my first classical coach, courtesy of my dear friend Ashe King who was the administrator for Stanley Holden and Tanya Lichine for a number of years. If it were not for Ashe I would be nowhere in dance.

For a number of years thereafter I gained some necessary stage experience. One memorable opportunity was that of being selected to dance with the Boston Ballet in Rudolf Nureyev’s production of “Don Quixote”. Can you imagine, I was chosen by him personally and then ended up as his costumed horse for the entire Los Angeles tour. Rudolf was hilarious, naughty, and incredibly inspiring.

Other professional experience was gained by performing with a number of regional dance companies including: The Los Angeles Junior Ballet (dancing in his first lead role in the ballet, “La Boutique Fantasque”) under the direction of Irina Kosmovska, The Los Angeles Music Center, “Performing Tree”, The Palos Verdes Ballet, The former Sacramento Ballet, and the Southwest Ballet of New Mexico, where I performed in my first major dance role, David Lichine’s ballet, “Graduation Ball” (lead cadet).

In 1983 I accepted a scholarship to attend the Milwaukee Ballet School where I spent two tough years, training primarily under the supervision of ballet master Paul Sutherland. My best friend at the time was the dancer Ethan Steifel. He and I still run into one another from time to time.

Some years later in 1989 on the request of my mother I moved to Europe to find work as a dancer. I found myself in the little, but most charming city of Munster, Germany. I never thought this was were I was going to work, but I auditioned for the Munster Dance Theatre under the direction of Pieter van der Sloot, and was accepted into the company where he remained until 1991.

I have to tell you, it was very funny meeting Pieter, because when I came to audition at his studio, he said in perfect English, “are you the American”, and of course I said yes and then he said, “great, well lets get working then”.

Thanks to Pieter’s careful attention I made my European stage debut dancing the Principal role of Franz in the full length Ballet “Coppelia” in the cities beautiful theatre.

My time in Germany was very productive, working closely alongside Pieter van der Sloot, a well respected Dutch ballet teacher and Choreographer and known to be one of the few serving protégé of the legendary Olga Preobrajenska.

Through Van der Sloot, I became familiar with the style of “Ausdruckstanz”, a form of European expressionist dance made popular by Mary Wigman and others. While with the dance theatre I performed as a Soloist in over a dozen original ballets, many of which I assisted in staging and designing.

In Italy, I worked with Van der Sloot at the huge “Arena of Verona”, assisting in the staging and choreographing of the children’s sections of the opera “Aida”, a Vittorio Rossi production. Additionally in Italy, I instructed ballet at the Lora Donna Venchi School in Verona and I performed in Pene, Italy with the Marco Spada school.

In Normandy, France, upon meeting Masako Ohya, a revered Japanese theatrical producer, I was offered an invitation to join her ballet competition as a Juror. This was where the famous Cuban dancer, Carlos Acosta, received his first gold medal and world wide recognition.

After a brief respite from the world of European dance and continued travels for almost three years I returned to Los Angeles and met my future dance partner and wife, Nadya Kalmanovskaya. In late 1992 I was hired by Nadya along with her friend and producer come hotel owner, Paul Rizos, to dance the Principal role of Pinkerton in the ballet-opera version of “Madame Butterfly”, which premiered in Big Bear, California. The production lasted nearly an entire year.

In 1995, courtesy of Oleg Vinogradov, former artist director of the Kirov Ballet Company, I traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia to receive additional training and coaching in a selection of classical ballet repertoire (“Swan Lake”).

Nadya and I have operated our ballet school in Los Angeles together since 1995, although the school was originally begun in 1992.

A pivotal time in our history came into being in the year 2000 when Nadya and I sealed an agreement with the Russian Ministry of Culture and the Vaganova Ballet Academy, allowing us to officially teach the “Vaganova Method” in its entirety. This has now become a huge responsibility!

Nadya and I are presently collaborating on writing an academic ballet textbook together which is directly related to the whole “Vaganova Methodology”. We hope to be able to have the book published within the next two years and then introduce the curriculum to a select number of public and private schools (K-12 and university) within the United States and or around the world if possible.

Additional activities include: Working towards completing my BFA, and my continued interests in Yoga, Martial Arts, Going to see live Theater, Writing, Painting, Cooking, Hiking, and more.