The Team
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Irina Lerman
Founder
Ballet, Character, Repertoire, Neoclassical
Graduated from Vaganova Ballet Academy and joined the Mariinskiy Ballet in the same year, 2011.
During 7 years of her career, she performed classical, neoclassical, and contemporary repertoire including
G, Balanchine's ballets, M. Petipa's, A. Ratmanskiy's, and Sasha Waltz. Participated in tours with a Company in Europe, Japan, China, UAE, and America. At the age of 21, Irina made her first choreography production at the Stage of Mariinsky Theatre. named "Minds Games" on music of M. Richter.
She obtained her Master’s Degree as a choreographer in 2016 at Vaganova Ballet Academy and won Silver Medal at the International Ballet Competition in Riga, Latvia. Trained at the Netherlands Dance Theatre Summer Intensive, participated at the Workshops of Wayne McGregor, Edward Clug. Performed at the Closing Ceremony of Olimpic Games in 2014, and the Closing Ceremony of Formula 1 in Monaco in 2018. Made several ballet productions as a choreographer for ballet companies including Mariinskiy Ballet, students of Vaganova Ballet Academy, Brussels International School, Detroit Opera House, and more.
From 2019 to the end of 2020 Lead Soloist at the Atlantic Ballet of Canada, Moncton, NB.
From 2021 freelance artist, teacher and choreographer.
Calley Skalnik
Ballet, Variations, Technique
Advanced Level
Calley Skalnik is a First Soloist with The National Ballet of Canada and has performed internationally in Moscow, Paris, Hamburg, San Francisco and New York.
Her repertoire includes Aurora in The Sleeping
Beauty, The Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker and featured roles in SwanLake and Giselle, among many others.
Alysa Pires
Guest Choreographer
Choreographer Alysa Pires was born and raised on the traditional territory of the W̱SÁNEĆ people near Victoria, B.C. Her works have been performed by companies such as New York City Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, Alberta Ballet, Ballet Kelowna, and Ballet Edmonton.
Alysa recently became the first Canadian woman to create a work for New York City Ballet, making her Lincoln Center debut in May 2023 with Standard Deviation. The work was subsequently presented at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
Pires began working with the National Ballet of Canada as part of their Choreographic Workshop (2016-2018) where she created her critically acclaimed work In Between. She represented the company at the 13th International Competition for the Erik Bruhn Prize and was then appointed Choreographic Associate by Karen Kain, a position that she held from 2019-2022. Other works for the NBoC include Frenzied Order (2019), in a state of vanishing (2021), and Skyward (2022).
Pires’ commissions for Ballet Kelowna include her full-length Macbeth (2022), and MAMBO (2018), which has become a signature work for the company, being presented as part of the 2018 Fall for Dance North Festival in Toronto, the China Arts Expo in Beijing, and touring extensively across Canada.
Pires is a three time participant of the New York Choreographic Institute and was one of the 2017 winners of Northwest Dance Project’s International Choreographic Competition. She also creates under the umbrella of Alysa Pires Dance Projects. Alysa is an Honours BFA graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University.
Julia Sedwick
Ballet, Variations, Technique
Advanced & Intermediate Levels
Julia Sedwick is a professional dancer based in Toronto. She graduated from Canada’s National Ballet School and began her career at The National Ballet of Canada.
Julia has performed as a guest with Les Grands Ballet Canadiens and has been a company dancer with Opera Atelier since 2010, with whom she has enjoyed being a part of many productions.
With Opera Atelier she has performed in Toronto, the U.S and Europe, including at the Chateau de Versailles as well as at the Salzburg Festival and Mozart Week in Austria.
Teagan Hadcock
Ballet, Repertoire, Pointe
Teagan began her ballet career at 12 years old when she performed the role of Clara in the Nutcracker with the Toronto International Ballet Theatre.
Since then, Teagan has performed in various ballet productions such as Cinderella, Fairy Doll, Coppelia, and the Nutcracker in many soloist and principal roles under the instruction of Mme. Stepanova of Stepanova Ballet Academy.
She has also attended many prestigious summer intensives from ballet academies such as the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, where she was invited to study for 2 consecutive years. T
eagan has had the pleasure of working and performing with Irina Lerman for 3 years and continues to spread her love of dance through teaching.