Instructor Bios
| Artur Sultanov, Artistic Director will be the primary teacher at our academy. READ BIO |
 Artur Sultanov in Christopher Stowell’s Swan Lake Photo by Blaine Covert. |
| Yuka Iino, Guest Instructor A native of Japan, Ms. Iino joined Oregon Ballet Theatre in 2003 and was named, Principal Dancer in 2007. With OBT, Ms. Iino has danced as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, the title role in Yuri Possokhov’s Firebird, and as Princess Aurora in Christoper Stowell’s, The Sleeping Beauty(Act III), among others. Yuka has also performed with Reiko Yamamoto Ballet Company where she became a Principal Dancer in 1996. She is a graduate of the Reiko Yamamoto Ballet School and a recipient of both the 1998 Varna International Ballet Competition Gold Medal (Junior Division) and the 1995 Asian Pacific Ballet Competition Bronze Medal. Yuka can currently be seen in OBT’s productions. |
 Yuka Iino in Christoper Stowell’s Pas De Deux Parisien/Photo by Blaine Covert |
| Lauren Duchene, Instructor Lauren Duchene began dancing at the age of 3 at the Stapleton School of Performing Arts in Marin County, California. She later went on to train at Marin Dance Theatre where she furthered her studies of classical ballet technique, training at a pre-professional level. While at MDT she had the honor of dancing alongside Artur Sultanov, who was a guest artist in the school productions. Lauren went on to receive her BA in dance with an emphasis on ballet performance at the University of California Irvine. Lauren performed in numerous ballets while studying at the various schools such as the Nutcracker, Coppelia, La Fille Mal Garde, and many contemporary ballets by choreographers such as Jodie Gates, Donald Mckayle, and Val Caniparoli. While attending UCI Lauren was contracted with Ballet Pacifica to perform parts in their Nutcracker production. Lauren is very passionate about teaching and working with children. Teaching youths ages 3-14 years since she was a teen, she loves to share ballet technique and to foster a child’s creativity in the dance setting. She taught throughout her college career at Focus Dance Center, post graduation at Ballet Arte and San Elijo Dance Academy in San Diego. Lauren most recently taught back in her home schools of MDT and the Stapleton School of Performing Arts where she also was a guest artist in their productions of Swan Lake and the Nutcracker, dancing the roles of Odette and the Sugar Plum Fairy. Mrs. Duchene is very excited to be teaching for Sultanov Russian Ballet Academy and can’t wait to share her love of ballet with her newest students! |
 Lauren Duchene |
