Vaganova in Indiana

With a scarf thrown over her shoulders, Alyona Borisovna Yakovleva stands on a chair to get a better view of the young dancers. Later, the scarf tied around her tiny waist, she leads them through their paces, correcting positions.

The 30-year-old Russian native is artistic director of the INDIANA BALLET COMPANY and director of the RUSSIAN BALLET ACADEMY OF INDIANAPOLIS. Her close ties to Russia's Vaganova schools and teachers means that RBAI may become the first U.S. school certified to teach the Vaganova method (although several teachers are certified here, no schools outside of Russia have ever been).

Yakovleva began dancing around age 4, and at 9 she applied to one of the Soviet Union's 28 state-sponsored ballet schools. She says, "I was blessed with good teachers my whole life. They put the right ideas in my legs and in my mind." She moved to Indianapolis in 2002 and was offered a teaching position at Ballet Internationale's Clara Noyes Academy. On November 10, 2005, however, the 32-year-old ballet company closed the curtain permanently amid financial difficulty. That evening, Yakovleva went to a studio space she rented to find dozens of students waiting at the door.

At first, she offered classes for free, with teachers donating their time. The parents, who had already paid tuition to the Noyes Academy, chipped in what they could. Yakovleva developed a curriculum, laid out a tuition schedule, and prepared students for the 2006 Youth America Grand Prix competition. There seven of her students placed in the awards, two took firsts, and she was named "Outstanding Teacher."

Last fall, she established the Indiana Ballet Company. She is working on a teacher exchange program with a school in St. Petersburg and also a month-long student exchange.

She hopes eventually to emulate Russian academies by offering full-time educational opportunities, possibly as a charter school complete with academics but focused on training professional dancers. Yakovleva also wants to better educate the Indianapolis community about ballet, including programs for local schools and senior citizens. Her first priorities, however, are to find a space for five large studios, raise funding for staff salaries, and produce a complete ballet season.

COPYRIGHT 2007 Dance Magazine, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning