Associate Teacher: Roxana Olesijuk Roxana’s early teachers include Maryinsky Ballet’s Vladimir Marek, Royal Ballet legend Stanley Holden, Ballet Russe’s Irina Kosmovska, and world famous Ballet Russe ballerinas, Alexandra Danilova and Tania Lichine, from whom she gratefully learned many classical variations. Other laudable teachers include Melissa Hayden, Robert Weiss, John Clifford, Patricia Wilde, and Gloria Govrin of New York City Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet’s Patrick Franz and Violette Verdy, Olga Kostritsky and Chinko Rafique, Barysnikov’s classmate at the Vaganova Institute in St. Petersburg. At sixteen, while on scholarship at SAB, Roxana accepted her first job as the youngest dancer with ABT’s junior company ABT II (formerly Ballet Repertory), dancing in George Balanchine’s Grand Pas de Dix- Raymonda, Richard Englund’s Vivaldi Variations, Romeo and Juliet et al. Pennsylvania Ballet followed with a myriad of ballets: Balanchine’s Symphony in C, Stars and Stripes, Western Symphony and Nutcracker, along with Elena Tchernichova’s staging of the classics Swan Lake and Giselle, and Peter Martin’s staging of La Sylphide. Highlighting her career as Principal Ballerina with Eugene Ballet of Oregon and as guest artist, Roxana performed leading roles in Cinderella, Coppelia, Paquita, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, among others. Roxana is proud for the last seven years to be included in the distinguished, international staff of teachers at LABA.