Vodolaga Ballet

Yuri Vodolaga was born in Kiev, Ukraine where he graduated from the State Ballet Academy and joined the Kiev State Ballet Theatre.  He later received his Masters Degree in teaching from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia.  He has 25 years of teaching experience in Russia and the United States, where he has been a guest teacher with the San Francisco Ballet, Baton Rouge Ballet, Connecticut Ballet, Eglevsky American Theater Dance, Broadway Dance Center, and Peridance Center.  He has taught at Miami City Ballet and was the main guest teacher for five years at the Youth America Grand Prix competition in New York City.  He was Artistic Director of the Greenwich Ballet Academy from 2010 to 2019.  He coaches professional ballet artists and gives private lessons in addition to cultivating his own school, Vodolaga Ballet, in partnership with the Greenwich Arts Council in Greenwich, CT.  

Mr. Vodolaga has extensive experience coaching students for competitions including Youth America Grand Prix, Moscow IBC, Connecticut Classic, USAIBC, Universal Ballet Competition, and his students have won and placed in these American and international ballet competitions.  

He received the Outstanding Teacher Award from Youth America Grand Prix.  

Mr. Vodolaga's students have been invited to study at other prestigious ballet schools including Bolshoi Ballet Academy, Royal Ballet School, Ellison Ballet, ABT, Bolshoi Ballet Academy and ABT summer intensives.  They perform in major ballet companies worldwide including American Ballet Theatre, ABT Studio Company, New York City Ballet, Miami City Ballet, the Mariinsky Theatre, Kiev State Ballet Theatre, the Mikhailovsky Theatre, the Bolshoi Theatre, the Royal Ballet, and the Paris State Opera Ballet.