Ilona MissakianBallet

Ilona Missakian studied ballet in Southern California with Cecilia Marie Crowl, Yvonne Cusack (R.A.D. method), and Marielle Reyes (Vaganova method). She danced professionally with The Forum Dance Ensemble in Orange County under Tricia Coran and Les Ballet Classiques des Montreal in Canada under Sona Vartanian, performing many corps de ballet and soloist roles. She was appointed director of Academy en l’ Air, California Classical Youth Ballet, and En l’ Air Dance Nexus and furthered her dance education with Dennon and Sayber Rawles as well as Finis Jhung. She focuses on non-profit projects to promote dance across all genres like jazz, tap, flamenco, and many ethnic forms and has trained dancers who went on to Joffrey and Alvin Ailey companies as well as Youth America Grand Prix. While now a college English professor, Ilona recently completed National Dance Certification and a California state credential in dance. She loves to see all dancers excel in their dance goals!