Cem Catbas, Artistic Director and Principal Dancer

Mr Catbas is the Artistic Director of Baltimore Ballet School and co-founder and Director of Baltimore Ballet Company.  He danced principal roles and toured with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet, the Istanbul Contemporary Ballet, and the Koblenz Ballet in Germany in addition to Baltimore Ballet.  Roles he danced include the title role of Dracula in Ben Stevenson's (Houston Ballet Production) Dracula, the title role of Romeo in Romeo and Juliet with the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet, The Monk in Carmina Burana (Kent Stowell's production from Pacific Northwest Ballet), the title role of Peer Gynt with the Koblenz Ballet, and numerous other principal roles.  Awards he has won include the 2006 and 2002 Individual Artist Award for excellence in solo dance performance from the Maryland State Arts Council, Gold Medal in the 1^st International Seleznyov Ballet Competition in 1991, and the Most Promising Dancer Award from the city of Istanbul.  He has a B.F.A. with honors from the Istanbul University State Conservatory where he studied with Ramazan Bapov, Nikolai Morozov, and Ludmilla Morkovina. He has worked with Ben Stevenson (Houston Ballet), Patricia Wilde (NYC Ballet) Marianna Tcherkassky and Terrence Orr (ABT), Richard Glasstone (Istanbul Ballet), and Kent Stowell (Pacific Northwest Ballet), among others. He has choreographed The Nutcracker, Pictures at an Exhibition, A Gershwin Rhapsody, Carnival of the Animals, excerpts from Petrouschka, and danced in and staged Scheherazade, Les Sylphides, the 2^nd act of Giselle, Swan Lake, La Bayadere, Paquita and The Firebird for Baltimore Ballet.  The esteemed dance critic George Jackson praised his "passionately stretched line, buoyant leaps and plush landings."  He has been a judge for several competitions including the Frederick Arts Council, and a Panelist for the Maryland State Art Council.  His students have gone on to dance professionally (including NYC Ballet and the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes), have won numerous awards including 1^st Prize at the regional Youth America Grand Prix Competition, winner of the MD Distinguished Scholar Award, and have received full scholarships to the School of American Ballet and other schools.  He has been interviewed on WBFF - Fox News, WMAR-TV, WJZ-TV, WBAL-TV and Comcast Local Edition.  He has given Master Classes in the US, Canada, and Europe.  He also has several articles on dance which were published at www.bourgeononline.com and he maintains an art/philosophy blog called "Barre None" at http://cemcatbas.wordpress.com/about/.  He appeared in the May and June issues of Dance Magazine 2012.

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Evgenia Singur, Principal Dancer

Evgenia is Baltimore Ballet’s prima ballerina, having performed in numerous Baltimore Ballet productions including the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker both at Kraushaar Auditorium and with the BSO , Phrygia in the Spartacus pas de deux at the Lyric Opera House, Zobeide in Scheherazade, the lead role in Les Sylphides, and the Dying Swan in Carnival of the Animals.. She was a principal dancer for the Russian State Ballet in Moscow, where she performed principal roles in Nutcracker, Giselle, Coppelia, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Spartacus, & Don Quixote, and toured internationally. She began training as a rhythmic gymnast, a figure skater, and as a ballerina from 1993-2001 at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy and Moscow State Institute of Choreography before joining the Russian State Ballet. She won the 2004 International Dance Festival in Korea, & the Silver Award in the 2002 Dance Europe Magazine Competition.

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Se-yong Kim (Guest Principal Dancer)

Se-yong graduated from the Seoul High School of Arts and the Sungkyunkwan University in Korea and majored in ballet (BA & MA) while performing with The National Company of Seoul. He won the gold medal in both the Korea Dance Association Competition and Sungkyunkwan University Competition. He danced principal roles with the Ajkun Ballet Theater,the Roxey Ballet Company, the Albanian National Opera Ballet Theater, and the Albany Berkshire Ballet Company. Se-yong has danced in The Nutcracker for Baltimore Ballet for the past 5 years. He also danced in Baltimore Ballet’s 10 Year Anniversary Gala at the Lyric Opera House, and at the Meyerhoff with the BSO with Baltimore Ballet for The Nutcracker Suite.

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Enton Hoxha (Guest Principal Dancer)

Enton studied at The National Ballet Academy in Albania and in Moscow. He danced with both the Moscow Classical Ballet and Ballet Stars of St. Petersburg, touring China, France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain, UK & USA as a featured dancer before joining The Ajkun Ballet Theatre Company. Enton's guest appearances include: Baltimore Ballet, The New England Ballet Company, The Ballet of Long Island, The Metropolitan Opera House of New York, and The Fling Productions in Michigan. Mr. Hoxha has danced in Baltimore Ballet’s Nutcracker performances for the past 3 years as Drosselmeyer, Arabian, and Marzipan.

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Valeriia Ivlieva (Deputy Artistic Director and Principal Dancer)

Valeriia was a principal dancer with Kiev College of Performing Arts, the Kiev Municipal Academic Opera and Ballet in Ukraine, and the Cairo Opera Ballet Company in Egypt.  She has performed and toured internationally (Russia, Spain, Canary Islands, Germany, Poland, South Korea, Holland, Japan, China, Portugal, Romania, France, Switzerland, Estonia) the title roles in Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Snow White, Carmen, Don Quixote, Cinderella, Carmina Burana, Romeo and Juliet, Odysseus, Zorba The Greek, Pinocchio, Cipollino, The Wizard Harry and the Snow Queen, and Opera Aida, as well as many modern and contemporary works.  She holds major international awards including Laureate of Galytska Terpsihora and Grand Pas from Donetsk Festival, and Kharkov International Ballet Competition in Ukraine.  She graduated from Kharkov Ballet Theatre, has a diploma from the Kiev College of Performing Arts and a bachelor’s diploma from the State University of Performing Arts Administration, all with honors.  She has taught master classes in the US, Europe and Africa, and was a Ballet Mistress/Choreographer with Mystic Ballet Company and Academy. 

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