Our teachers and staff are a passionate team who strive to instill a love for dance in the students of Kingsport Ballet.
Directors
Artistic Director Leonid Flegmatov and Executive Director Bertina Dew work together to execute the vision of Kingsport Ballet now, and for years to come. Their teamwork ensures that great classical ballet training and full-length ballet performances they produce, are made possible with the right staging, aesthetic and authenticity. They share a dedication to high standards and exceeding expectations, resulting in a product worthy of much larger locales. They love what they do, and it shows!
Leonid Flegmatov
Artistic Director
Leonid Flegmatov graduated from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow and subsequently was invited to join the Bolshoi Ballet Theater. Mr. Flegmatov is an award winner in the First International Chabukiani-Balanchine Ballet Competition in 2001. He completed his classical ballet education and graduated from the Russian Academy of Theatrical Arts (GITIS) in 2004, where he studied teaching and ballet choreography.
As a dancer, he toured Europe, Asia and the United States eventually dancing with companies such as Miami City Ballet, Columbia Classical Ballet, International Ballet Theater and Grand Rapids Ballet. In 2012 Mr. Flegmatov became principal dancer with New Jersey Ballet, where he danced lead roles and taught company classes until spring of 2019.
He joined Kingsport Ballet as a full-time faculty member in the fall of 2019 as Assistant to then-Artistic Director Valeria Sinyavskaya. In addition to assisting in teaching, rehearsing and setting full-length ballets, Mr. Flegmatov coaches intermediate and advanced students, helping them secure top prizes in the Jewels Ballet Competition, including "grand prix" in pas de deux, and various special judges' awards. Mr Flegmatov himself has won first and second place "Best Teacher", "Best School" for Kingsport Ballet, as well as the "Konstantin Durnev" special award. Mr. Flegmatov is now the artistic director of Kingsport Ballet. He teaches intermediate and upper levels of ballet, coaches students of all levels, and sets and stages full-length ballets for the company.
Bertina Dew
Executive Director
Bertina Sixto Dew has been Executive Director of Kingsport Ballet since 1999. In addition to managing the school and company, she has created costumes and sets for KB productions such as Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, and Don Quixote. She implemented the DANCE CO project in 2003, which works with non-arts, after-school programs serving at-risk children to provide instruction free of charge. Ms. Dew secured a National Endowment for the Arts grant for the outreach program in 2006. In 2010 she led the renovation of Kingsport Ballet’s new 13,000-square-foot facility, which includes four dance studios, a boutique, art gallery, an arts wing subletting space to small businesses, and a wellness lounge.
Ms. Dew received the Arts Council of Greater Kingsport’s Arts Leadership award in 2010, the Tennessee Association of Dance award in Dance Advocacy in 2011, and a YWCA Tribute to Women award for Volunteerism in 2012. In 2016 she conceptualized the project and designed the costumes for the Company’s contemporary ballet, Seeds of Change, celebrating the city’s one hundredth anniversary. Ms. Dew was recognized in 2017 by the Junior League of Kingsport’s “Women of Impact” as one of 130 outstanding women who have made significant contributions to the city during its 100 years of history.
Prior to her becoming executive director at KB, she specialized in oil portraits and murals and worked in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Augusta, GA. Ms. Dew earned a master’s degree in art therapy from the George Washington University and a bachelor’s in art education from Florida State University. She is originally from Uruguay and currently lives in Kingsport, Tennessee with her husband Michael. They have three daughters and four grandchildren.
Staff
Valeria Sinyavskaya
Former Artistic Director and Director Emeritus
Valeria Sinyavskaya served Kingsport Ballet as Artistic Director for 20 years. Her career spanned several decades as Prima Ballerina with Novosibirsk Ballet Theater, teacher and artistic director in the U.S and abroad. Ms. Valeria retired in 2021 after setting and staging the major Tchaikovsky classics with Kingsport Ballet and instilling her passion and high standards for ballet in hundreds of students.
She is excited to return to Kingsport Ballet for the 2024 school year to help guide our middle-level dancers through the journey of beginning pointe.
Elisa Henson-Williamson
Executive Assistant and Bookkeeper
Elisa Henson-Williamson is a graduate of Kingsport Ballet, where she was a dancer in the school and company for many years. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from East Tennessee State University.
Elisa is currently the Bookkeeper and part-time executive assistant. She helps manage the front desk staff, helps provide training, and assists with various administrative tasks.
Teachers
Laura Markus
Ballet Teacher
Laura Markus received her formal training under Karen Gibbons-Brown, founder of Kingsport Guild of Ballet, which became Kingsport Ballet in 1999. Ms Markus was in one of the first graduating classes of the Kingsport Guild of Ballet and a member of the State of Franklin Dance Alliance (SFDA) company. She continued her training with the school and company while attending ETSU. Her experience with the original Kingsport Ballet includes teaching, rehearsal coach, assistant to the Director, preparing costuming and stagecraft, as well as SFDA Board Member. After her time with the KGB/SFDA, Miss Markus taught and performed for the Fayetteville Ballet Théâtre (NC), Northwest Florida Ballet and Northwest Florida State College. While in Florida she developed an after-school dance program for Walton County School District, which led to her opening her own school, Ecole de Danse, in 2001.
She is happy and excited to have come full circle and return to her original classical training with the Kingsport Ballet, where she has been on faculty since 2016, and serves as rehearsal assistant.
Raleigh Shelton
Contemporary Teacher
Raleigh Shelton is a graduate of Kingsport Ballet. As a student and company member at KB she performed various solo and lead roles including the Chinese dance in the Nutcracker, Clara, Waltz Soloist, and others. She began taking classes at the age of 3 and graduated at age 18. Upon graduation she moved to Gainesville and then Orlando, Florida where she danced in a contemporary company for several years and taught ballet classes in regional studios.
Kingsport Ballet welcomed her back during Summer Intensive 2023, where she taught contemporary dance. Raleigh joined the faculty as the contemporary teacher in the Fall of 2023 and is also a guest performer in KB productions.
Adriana Dew
Rehearsal Assistant
Adriana Dew is a Kingsport Ballet graduate, former guest performer, and instructor. She received her training in the Vaganova method from Valeria Sinyavskaya, and attended summer intensives with American Ballet Theatre, the Kirov Academy of Ballet (D.C.) and the Hungarian Ballet Academy in Budapest. She is a graduate of Wake Forest University where she was recipient of the Presidential Scholarship for Distinguished Achievement in Dance, and the award for Outstanding Achievement in Ballet.
Adriana returned to Kingsport Ballet in 2009 where she taught various levels and performed soloist and principal roles as artist-in-residence, until she moved to Atlanta in 2012. Some of her favorite roles include Kitri in Don Quixote, Princess Clara in The Nutcracker, and the Fascination pas de deux from Satanella.
Adriana relocated to Johnson City in 2021 with her husband and two children and now serves as part-time rehearsal assistant at KB and is Program Director at FoundersForge.