Born into a dance family of classical ballet, Marina Eglevsky has studied and performed with the leading luminaries of zo" Century Ballet. Her father was the esteemed danseurnoble Andre Eglevsky, and her mother, Leda Anchutina, was a pupil and protege of Michael Fokine and former soloist with the New York City Ballet. Marina grew up backstage with New York City Ballet, from an early age taking Mr. Balanchine's company class and later studying at both her parent's school, the Eglevsky Ballet School, as well as School of American Ballet and American Ballet Theater School. Her extensive performance credits include dancing in Balanchine's Nutcracker for several years and the Eglevsky Ballet, the former a collaboration between Mr. Balanchine and Andre Eglevsky (many ofMr. Balanchine's ballets were performed with the Eglevsky Ballet). At 14 years of age, Marina was taken into New York City Ballet; by age 15 Marina had joined the Rebecca Harkness Ballet of New York as soloist. She later danced as a principal dancer with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Hamburg Ballet. Marina worked extensively with choreographer John Neumier in Harkness Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet as well as John Neumier's own Hamburg Ballet, dancing the role of Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, and Marie in Nutcracker as well as other roles choreographed exclusively for her. Throughout a career that found her guest-performing and starring at international companies, Marina would dance the lead roles in ballets including Copellia, Cinderella, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Rodeo and Giselle, paired with such famed partners as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Helgi Tomasson, Fenando Bujones, Robert Weiss, and Lawrence Rhodes. Other career highlights include being personally invited to dance in a festival with Rudolph Nureyev at Lincoln Center in New York and starring as Maggie in the Broadway production of Brigadoon at the Majestic Theater in New York under the direction of Agnes DeMille and Vivian Matalon (co-starring with Olympic champion ice skater, John Curry). Marina inherited and continues to stage several Balanchine ballets worldwide. She has staged these works for companies including American Ballet
Theater, New York City Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet and Paris Opera Ballet. In 1998 Marina staged Mr. Balanchine's Sylvia Pas de Deux for the Kennedy Center Honors during the presidency of Bill Clinton. Marina also received the prestigious Issie Award for her outstanding work in staging ballets. Marina's teaching career began at the University of North Carolina School of Arts. She has also taught at Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and guest taught at other leading schools around the country. Trained in both Western and Eastern medicine as well as alternative healing modalities, Marina has a practice in medical and psychosomatic bodywork, with a focus on coaching professional dancers. She is also on staff at the Shawl Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley, CA.