June 30 – July 5, 2025 in Piano di Sorrento, Italy
Registration is closed!
Guest Teachers for Summer Workshop
Riccardo Riccardi
Riccardo began his studies in the Neapolitan school of Gino Lemaire, the former soloist of the San Carlo Theater and trained under Zarko Prebil, a student of N. Tarasov. He danced with the company of the San Carlo Opera House in Naples, Italy from 1985 to 2022 working with Carla Fracci, Vladimir Vasilyev, Ekaterina Maksimova, Rudolf Nureyev, Roland Petit, etc. He studied ballet with renowed dancers such as Zarko Prebil, Sulamith Messerer, Michail Messerer, Anatoliy Nisnievitch, Michail Lavrovsky, Alla Sisova.
In 1995 he graduated as maitre de ballet at the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia. Riccardo started organizing instructional courses for ballet teachers in the Vaganova Method across Italy soon after. In 2007, Mr. Riccardi translated and published the book “The Russian School of Classical Dance“ of V.S.Kostrovitskaya, A.A. Pisarev (Gremese 2007).
Starting in 2011, in collaboration with the international trade and show dance event “Danzainfiera“ (Italy) Riccardo organizes Ballet Master Classes with the Vaganova Ballet Academy. In 2015 he collaborated with the Vaganova Ballet Academy on publication of the book Maestro Enrico Cecchetti.
In 2017, 2018 and 2019 Riccardo was invited to the prestigious Forum of Cultures organized by the Ministry of Russian Culture. 2018 marked the year when he published the book “I temps lies del metodo Vaganova“ (Joker 2018) with reface by Nikolai Tsiskaridze and Marina Vasilyeva. In 2018 and 2019 he participated in the Update Courses of the Vaganova Academy for courses lower, intermediate and higher. From 2019 Mr. Riccardo started teaching at the Kirov Ballet Academy in Washington as a guest master teacher.
Anastasia Vasilieva
In 1991, Anastasia Vasilieva graduated with honors from the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg. Russia from the class of the famous Natalia Dudinskaya, who was a student of Agrippina Vaganova herself. In 2005, Anastasia graduated with honors from the pedagogical department of Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet as a teacher of classical, historical. and character dance. In 2009, she finished her post-graduate stud at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet and later in 2015 she received her Candidate of Sciences (Ph.D). For more than 20 years, Anastasia Vasilieva served as a ballet dancer at the prestigious Mariinsky Theatre in St.
Petersburg, Russia. She danced various roles from the Theatre’s repertoire in both the corps de ballet & as a soloist. She toured with the theatre and was part of its many premieres all over the world. In 2012, Anastasia was awarded the prestigious diploma of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, a highly regarded honor. Anastasia teaches masterclasses in the classical, character, and historical dance disciplines in theaters and dance schools all over the world including Finland, Great Britain, Italy, France, South Korea, and United States of America. As of now, Ms. Anastasia works as an Associate Professor at the Department of Methodology of Character, Historical Dance and Acting at the prestigious Vaganova Academy of Classical Ballet in St.
Petersburg, Russia. Anastasia Vasilieva is the author of numerous works and papers as well as the author of various books specializing in the methodology of ballet. Since the opening of Osipova Ballet Academy in 2021, Ms. Anastasia Vasilieva has been a leading advisory and consultant for Osipova Ballet Academy.
Vadim Pijicov
Mr. Vadim Pijicov was the ballet master at L’Etoile Ballet Academy, LLC. He received his education at the world famous and most prestigious Academy of Russian Ballet A. Vaganova in St. Petersburg, Russia. He completed full 8 years of professional Ballet Academy training with disciplines such as Classical Ballet, Pointe, Variation, Pas-de-Deux, Character Dance, Historical Court Dance, Music History, History, of Arts, History of Ballet, History of World Theater, History of Ancient Roman and Ancient Greek Theater, Ethics, Esthetics, Piano, Repertoire (includes participation at professional ballet performances at Mariinsky Ballet Theater).
Mr. Pijicov had some of the most famous and world renown ballet teachers, such as, N. Serebrenyakov, I. Gensler, O. Sokolov. After graduating, he enjoyed a spectacular career as a Principal Ballet Dancer with the National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet of Republic of Moldova, where he danced all major Principal and Soloist roles.
Mr. Pijicov has also worked as a Principal Dancer at the prestigious Liliana Cozi/Shtefanescu Ballet Company of Regio-Emilia, Italy, and as a soloist with Ballet Internationale of Indianapolis, IN. Mr. Pijicov was awarded the Best Partner Award at the International Ballet Competition, Oleg Danovsky, Constanza, Romania. Mr. Pijicov began his teaching career at Ballet Academy of Republic of Moldova and he has further expanded his pedagogic career by teaching at various schools around the United States, such as the Baltimore School For The Arts and The Kirov Academy of Ballet. His career as a professional ballet dancer was concluded in 2004 and since then, his focus has been entirely dedicated to pedagogy. He is also a Judge for the World Ballet Arts Competition Grand Prix, Canada and a founder of The Washington DC Grand Prix.