Olga Iakovlevskaya

“The legacy of Marius Petipa is an immense, lively, colourful puzzle filled with music, painting, literature, directing work and priceless choreography of the classical ballet founder. It can be discovered and collected endlessly through the research of new archival documents, studying of choreographic notations, the restoration of lost details, moving away from simplifications and finding new content. Though the traditional performance of Petipa's ballets and dances at the Mariinsky Theatre has always been kept and treated with great respect and even reverence, it is still important and interesting to see and experience how his legacy sounds and looks like in an interpretation by choreographer-reconstructors. This makes possible to look more closely at it and discover new facets of the Brilliant talent of the great Marius Petipa.”

Olga is a renowned and respected ballet master from St. Petersburg, Russia, who has brought her talent and love of ballet to Europe, Canada and USA.

She graduated from the Leningrad Academic Vaganova School of Ballet in 1978. Her performances at the State Theatre of Choreographic Miniatures of Leonid Jacobson was interrupted when she moved to Belgium after Perestroyka. Olga worked as a classical ballet teacher at the Royal Ballet School Antwerp and later, she continued her career as a Senior classic ballet instructor at the Goh Ballet Academy in Vancouver, Canada and as the Artistic Director of Professional Training Program at San Jose Youth Ballet, CA, USA. She is in high demand as a guest teacher in various ballet schools and taught in various International Summer Programs in Europe, USA, Canada and Australia.

Now, she continues her carrier at Professional Training Program in the Brussels International Ballet and she is a guest teacher in other ballet schools in Belgium.

An outstanding education Olga received in one of the best ballet institutions of the world was not narrowed down to the deep knowledge of the Vaganova method but amplified with serious research in the history of ballet, theatre, music, and art. All that formed Olga’s true passion for art, history, and philosophy. Olga's interests and expertise brought her additional activities outside the ballet class. She is the creator of Global Events, a non-profit organization in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1995, where she realized around 40 educational and cultural projects. Olga has numerous letters of appreciation for her contribution to the development of cultural relations between Belgium and Russia; she was awarded a medal “In honour of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg” by the Russian Government. Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, the Government of Belgium, the EU, UNICEF and Help Kids has recognized her.

Olga was awarded diploma and medal “The Best Teacher Award” in recognition of outstanding technical and artistic merit at the 2018 World Ballet Competition Finals held in Orlando, Florida, USA. And most recently Olga received the “Outstanding Teacher 2019” Award, Young American Grand Prix”.

Olga is the author and creator of the Petipa Marathon.