Ancestral and temple dances
Guided by my Slavic roots and a deep curiosity for the ancestral body, I have travelled across cultures to study traditional and ritual dance forms — from Eastern Europe to Carribeans, India, and Latin America. Each encounter revealed dance as an ancient language of healing and connection: a way to restore coherence between body, land, and spirit. My research weaves these living traditions into contemporary somatic practice, where movement becomes both remembrance and renewal.
Bharatanatyam (Kalakshetra bani)
I have practiced Bharatanatyam for over two decades, completing my formal training at Kalakshetra Foundation — India’s prestigious choreographic college founded by Rukmini Devi Arundale — where I received a First Class Diploma in 2011 along with a dissertation on Indian dance philosophy and Natya Yoga. Guided by my teacher Smt. Nandhini Nagaraj, I was deeply immersed in the cultural and spiritual atmosphere of India. Alongside Bharatanatyam in the Kalakshetra bani, I explored Kshatriya, Kalaripayattu martial arts, Carnatic vocal, yoga, mantra, folk dances, Odissi, and Kathakali, expanding my understanding of movement as a sacred language that unites body, mind, and spirit.
Afrocuban dance and tradition
Since 2006, I have travelled between Brazil and Cuba, drawn by the pulsating rhythm and spiritual depth of Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian traditions. I was initiated in both Candomblé and Santería, paths that awakened in me a profound sense of aliveness — a recognition of rhythm as a living force that moves through body, spirit, and nature.
My studies led me to work with many teachers across Cuba, Brazil, and Europe, including the renowned Rosângela Silvestre in Salvador de Bahia and artists of the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional de Cuba. I studied dance, song, drumming, traditional stories, rituals, and belief systems, discovering how the Orishas embody the elements and emotions that shape human and cosmic life. The Orishas continue to accompany me on my journey — as teachers, mirrors, and guardians — and I am deeply honoured to walk with them.