National Ballet Competition Jury

2026 Jury Members (More to be posted soon)

  • Luba Gulyaeva graduated from the Vaganova Ballet Academy in Leningrad, USSR (now St. Petersburg, Russia). Her instructors include
the famous N.V. Baltacheyeva, assistant to A.Y. Vaganova. Ms. Gulyaeva joined the Kirov (Maryinsky) Ballet Company from 1968 to1979 in Leningrad where she performed in ballets such as La Bayadere, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Don Quixote, Swan Lake, La Sylphide, Le Corsair, Nutcracker, Legend of Love, Cinderella and others. In 1980,

    
Ms. Gulyaeva was invited by Jurgen Schneider to be a faculty member
of the Botsford School of Dance in Rochester, New York where she
taught intermediate and advanced classical ballet, pointe technique,
 and variation repertory. She also coached students for competitions
and professional company auditions. From 1988 to 1989, Ms. Gulyaeva was invited by Mikhail Baryshnikov to be a member of the faculty of
the American Ballet Theatre School of Classical Ballet where she gave classes to the American Ballet Theatre dancers.

    From 1989 to 1993, Ms. Gulyaeva was ballet coach at the Steps Ballet Studio in New York City. She also taught master classes at the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne and classes at the School of American Ballet in New York City. Ms. Gulayaeva has privately coached participants of the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, MS and the Prix de Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland. She is well known as one of the finest teachers of the Vaganova ballet system and classical repertory.

  • Mr. Pakri is originally from Estonia and is a graduate of the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia. Following his graduation, Mr. Pakri danced with Estonian National Ballet as a principal dancer and taught partnering and technique classes at the Tallinn State Ballet School. During that time, he also performed as a principal guest artist at the International Ballet Festival in Havana, Cuba; and for the National Theater of Macedonia in Skopje, Yugoslavia. In 1991, at the invitation of then-artistic-director Martin Fredmann, Mr. Pakri joined Colorado Ballet as principal dancer. Over the next ten years, he performed numerous classical and contemporary roles, including Albrecht in Giselle, the title role in George Balanchine’s Apollo, Basilio in Don Quixote, the principal male in Balanchine’s Rubies, and Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake. Mr. Pakri was also a frequent guest performer in Estonia and Japan. In 1998, he performed as a guest artist with the Martha Graham Dance Company in the role of the Husbandman in Appalachian Spring at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

    Mr. Pakri retired from dancing in 2001 and, for the next five years, served as ballet master of Colorado Ballet. In 2005, he received critical acclaim for staging The Sleeping Beauty for the Company. In 2006, Mr. Pakri joined the faculty of The Royal Ballet Upper School in London, England, where he remained until August 2013. During his tenure, Mr. Pakri’s students won prizes at the Youth America Grand Prix and Young British Dancer of the Year competitions. He also served as a guest teacher at Estonian National Ballet and at a number of schools. Prior to joining HARID’s faculty, Mr. Pakri was ballet master at Houston Ballet. He has served as a guest teacher not only at Estonian National Ballet, but also at The Royal Ballet and San Francisco Ballet. He remains active as a guest teacher and a ballet-competition judge.

  • Igor Antonov was born in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Upon graduation from the Kiev Choreographic Institute, he joined the Donetsk Ballet (Ukraine) as a soloist. In 1990, he was invited to join Richmond Ballet, where for five seasons he danced leading roles in works by George Balanchine, John Butler, Antony Tudor, William Soleau, Malcolm Burn, and Stoner Winslett. During that time, he was also a medalist and best couple award winner at the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi. For the next several years, he danced with Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf, Germany, and made guest appearances with major ballet companies in Berlin, Madrid, and Nice. Returning to Richmond Ballet in 2003 for the remainder of his professional career, he also began conducting rehearsals and teaching at the School of Richmond Ballet. When Mr. Antonov retired from the stage, he accepted the leadership role for Richmond Ballet’s second company, Richmond Ballet II, and served the Ballet as an Artistic Associate and Studio Company Director. In 2024 he started in a new role as Rehearsal Director for the professional company.

  • Ellen Rosa-Taylor, originally from Wilmington, DE, is currently the Chair of the Dance Department at Idyllwild Arts Academy. She received her Bachelor of Science in Ballet from Indiana University, Bloomington. Ms. Rosa-Taylor received her MFA in Dance from Florida State University where she was the recipient of a Deans Teaching Fellowship for the School of Visual Arts and Dance as well as a University Fellowship. Ellen has performed as a dancer with the Los Angeles Opera, New York City Opera, San Diego Opera, City Ballet of Los Angeles, Media City Ballet, Louise Reichlin and Dancers and Chattanooga Ballet. Ms. Rosa-Taylor was also featured as the Bluebird in Disney’s Snow White, an Enchanting Musical at Disneyland. As a choreographer Mrs. Rosa-Taylor has been a guest choreographer throughout the US. As a dance educator, Ms. Rosa-Taylor is currently an ABT Certified Teacher for levels Primary- 7 and has received the distinction of ABT NTC Fellow.

  • Mariaelena Ruiz — recipient of the 2019 Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) NYC Finals Outstanding Teacher Award— was born in Caracas, Venezuela, where she trained under Nina Novak, Prima Ballerina of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.

    At just 14, she became the youngest member of Ballet Nacional de Caracas under Vicente Nebrada. She soon earned 3rd place in the Junior Division at the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson and a full scholarship to the School of American Ballet in New York. Additional accolades followed, including the Best Couple Award and 3rd place in the Senior Division at the Varna International Ballet Competition, and a prize at the Prix Volinine in Paris.

    Over the next seven years, Mariaelena performed principal roles with Bay Ballet Theater, Cleveland San Jose Ballet, and Ballet Hispánico, and appeared as a guest artist across the U.S. and Europe. From 2000–2006, she danced an extensive Balanchine repertoire with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, performing at the Kennedy Center and on tour internationally.

    Mariaelena began teaching at The Rock School for Dance Education in 2000, becoming full-time Ballet Master in 2006 and training many of today’s top ballet talents. In 2015, she and her husband became part-owners of Cary Ballet Conservatory, where she launched the Professional Training Program and was named Artistic Director of Cary Ballet Company. Under her direction, the Conservatory has earned national acclaim, including Outstanding School awards from YAGP in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, and ADC|IBC in 2017, 2018, 2022, 2024 and 2025, features in Dance Magazine and Pointe Magazine, and Mariaelena’s own cover story in Dance Teacher Magazine.

    A sought-after guest teacher and judge, she has served on panels for YAGP and the New York International Ballet Competition, appeared in the award-winning documentary First Position, and was featured in WHYY Philadelphia’s 2009 documentary on the Curtis Institute of Music and Rock School collaboration. In 2016, she received the Outstanding Teacher Award at ADC|IBC.

    Her coaching has produced medalists at major international competitions, including Moscow IBC, USA IBC in Jackson, Boston IBC, Prix de Lausanne, YAGP, and ADC|IBC. Her students dance with leading companies worldwide, such as the National Ballet of Canada, American Ballet Theatre, Het Nationale Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, New York City Ballet, Houston Ballet, Ballet West, Washington Ballet, Charlotte Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Ballet, and on Broadway.

    As Artistic Director of Cary Ballet Company, Mariaelena has staged a sold-out full-length Nutcracker annually since 2016, introduced one-hour narrated Nutcracker mini-shows, brought acclaimed choreographers to Spring Works productions, and choreographed or adapted classical favorites including Le Corsaire, La Bayadère, and Don Quixote. Under her leadership, Cary Ballet Conservatory dancers have been invited to the Prix de Lausanne in 2021, 2023, and 2024 — with a silver medal win in 2025.