Southland Ballet Academy Guest Faculty Biographies 

LARISSA SAVELIEV trained at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow. As a member of the Bolshoi Ballet, she has toured throughout Russia, Europe, Brazil, Egypt and Japan.  Her repertoire includes most of the works from classical ballet, such as Swan Lake, Les Sylphides, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, The Nutcracker, Le Corsaire, Raymonda and Giselle, as well as works by Yuri Grigorovich, George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, and Agnes de Mille.  Her career in the United States has included positions in the Los Angeles Classical Ballet, the New Jersey Ballet, and Tulsa Ballet.  Saveliev is the Co-founder and Artistic Director of the Youth America Grand Prix Competition.


GAILENE STOCK Trained initially in Australia and then at The Royal Ballet Upper School as a result of a scholarship awarded by the Royal Academy of Dance. Stock danced as a Principal Artist with The Australian Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, performing many of the leading roles in the major classics and also many dramatic works. Following a sixteen year professional dancing career, she accepted the position of Director of the National Theatre Ballet School, Victoria, Australia for eight years and The Australian Ballet School for nine years, before taking on the role of Director of The Royal Ballet School in 1999.  In 1997 Stock was awarded the Order of Australia for services to ballet.  Internationally acclaimed, her knowledge and experience is regularly sought in the dance community worldwide. She has participated as a jury member in many international competitions including the role of President of the Prix de Lausanne, Switzerland and the Youth America Grand Prix, New York.


GARY NORMAN Trained at The Australian Ballet School, Norman was taken into The Australian Ballet in 1970 and within two years was promoted to Principal Artist. He has performed all the leading roles in the major classical ballets as well as creating roles in many new works by international choreographers. Norman has also performed with the National Ballet of Canada and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and has appeared as guest Artist with the Hong Kong Ballet and The Philippines Ballet. He was Senior Lecturer at the Victorian College of the Arts, and Principal Teacher for many years at The Australian Ballet School moving into the role of Principal Ballet Master of The Australian Ballet two years prior to moving to London and The Royal Ballet School.


ALEXANDER KALININ was born in Moscow, Russia, and began his dancing career with his father.  He graduated from the prestigious Bolshoi Ballet Academy of Moscow.  He has performed and toured as a soloist in over sixty countries with the Beriyoska Dance Company and the Red Army Chorus.  After immigrating to the United States in 1981, Kalinin has performed on stages in New York, Las Vegas, Reno, Australia and throughout Southern California.  He is the founder and Artistic Director of the Kalinin Dance Company and the Russian Gypsy Dance Theater.


MISHA TCHOUPAKOV Born and raised in Moscow, Russia, Tchoupakov performed with the Bolshoi Ballet, as well as with the Colorado Ballet, Sarasota Ballet of Florida, Los Angeles Classical Ballet, Vienna State Opera Ballet, and San Francisco Opera Ballet. He also holds an M.F.A. in Dance Pedagogy and Choreography from the Moscow State Institute of Choreography and he had taught for Colorado Ballet, Houston Ballet, Oregon Dance Theatre, Ballet West, David Taylor Dance Theatre, State Street Ballet, Ballet Arlington, Guangzhou Ballet of China, and Galili Dance in Netherlands. He was also on the faculty of the Royal Ballet School and the Elmhurst School for Dance in Association with Birmingham Royal Ballet in the UK. Tchoupakov currently serves as Rehearsal Director for the YAGP in New York and is an internationally renowned guest teacher. He is currently on the faculty of the Department of Ballet at the University of Utah.


EVELYN CISNEROS Born in Long Beach, California and raised in Huntington Beach, Cisneros began studying ballet at the age of eight.  She began her apprenticeship with the San Francisco Ballet in 1976 and joined the company in 1977. She has danced the leading roles in a diverse repertoire of classical ballets such as Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, La Sylphide, and La Fille Mal Gardee.  Cisneros has been featured on the covers of Dance Magazine, Ballet News, and Hispanic Magazine, and received numerous awards for her community activism and artistic achievements. In May of 1999, Cisneros retired from the San Francisco Ballet with a Gala performance in her honor, and in celebration KQED produced a 1/2 hour documentary of her life, entitled Evelyn Cisneros, Moving On.  Since 2000 Cisneros has taught at summer intensive courses for the Kansas City Ballet, the Boston Ballet School, as well as at the New York City Ballet Workout at the Bay Club in San Francisco.   She has staged ballets for Val Caniparoli and Michael Smuin for companies in America and abroad.


NIKOLOZ MAKHATELI, Mr. Makhateli graduated from the Tblisi National Ballet School and the Tblisi State Institute of the Arts, receiving his Master's Degree as a teacher, repetiteur and choreographer. He performed as Principal Dancer with the National Theater Opera House in (Soviet) Georgia from 1966-1992, dancing all the leading roles in the classical repertoire and then working as a choreographer and Master Teacher with Maurice Bejart's "Mudra-Afrique" School (Senegal), at the National Ballet School (Nicaragua), and the Kirov (St. Petersburg). Mr. Makhateli combines his international experience and lifelong commitment to the artistry of ballet with his joy of teaching. In the studio, he inspires young dancers as he instructs with care, kindness, a true love of music and dance, and high standards and expectations for his students. Additional information is provided at his website.