I am a dance artist, educator and cultural producer with a focus on adult learning and building communities through dance. Born in the Russian Far East, I grew up as a competitive ballroom dancer and moved to Anchorage Alaska shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union. During a full decade in Alaska, I explored contemporary dance, music based jazz and social dance forms from Salsa to Contact Improvisation, as well as the theories and practice of adult education, and built an active career as a performer, choreographer and educator while on faculty at the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Since moving to Toronto in 2009 and earning a Master of Fine Arts in Dance Dramaturgy and Choreography, I have worked as an independent artist/producer developing accessible dance programming for Wheel Dance, Sarah Elizabeth Centre and Canadian National Institute for the Blind, as well as public libraries, seniors residencies, galleries and city parks all across the GTA. My work as the founder of the Dance Together Project, and co-founder/co-producer of the Dance Together Festival centers on facilitating experiences of meaningful connection through dance for adult learners.