Meet the
Founder

Valentina Kozlova was born in Moscow. Selected first among 30,000 applicants Ms. Kozlova was trained at the Bolshoi Ballet School. Ms. Kozlova joined the Bolshoi Ballet in 1973; she was promoted to Principal dancer in 1975 and danced all leading roles in the company repertoire.

In 1979, while on tour with the Bolshoi Ballet in Los Angeles, Ms. Kozlova defected. Thereafter Ms. Kozlova pursued a career as a guest artist and also performed with the Australian Ballet.

While a Principal dancer with the Australian Ballet, Ms. Kozlova danced leading roles in Serge Lifar's Suite en Blanc, Jerome Robbins' Afternoon of a Faun, Glen Tetley's The Rite of Spring, the title role in Roland Petit's Carmen, the title role in Andre Prokovsky's Anna Karenina, the Queen in Prokovsky's The Three Musketeers, and Juliet in John Cranko's Romeo and Juliet. She also co-staged a production of The Nutcracker for the Australian Ballet.