Who We Are

At Ballet Academy Ventura, we believe strong ballet training begins with a positive, supportive, and inspiring environment. We are committed to providing quality dance education while nurturing each student's individual growth, confidence, and love of dance.

We strive to create a welcoming community where students feel valued and encouraged, and families feel connected through open communication with our instructors.

Beyond technique, we believe in educating the whole student by fostering discipline, perseverance, creativity, respect, and self-confidence. Through positive guidance and constructive instruction, our goal is to help every student reach their potential, both in the studio and beyond.

kathleen noblin

  • Ms. Noblin is founder of Ballet Academy Ventura (BAV) and co-founder of Ventura County Ballet (VCB), the non-profit in-residence ballet company. The school has served Ventura County for over 30 years as an outstanding center for dance education. Ms. Noblin was honored as the 2008 recipient of the Mayor’s Arts Award for her service as an Arts Educator. Ballet Academy Ventura has successfully trained students for many of the finest professional summer programs in the U.S. and Europe. VCB presents an annual production of Tchaikovsky’s beloved ballet The Nutcracker each year, and other spring concerts, fulfilling its mission statement of providing production experience for youth and adults in Ventura County. Ms. Noblin received her Bachelor’s degree from UCLA Angeles in science, and nursing from the UCLA School of Nursing. Additionally, she has served as a school nurse in the Los Angeles City school system.

    Ms. Noblin has participated in Ventura’s cultural landscape as a member of the Cultural Plans Steering Committee. Ms. Noblin is actively involved in the infusion of the arts into the local community. She has directed over forty full-length ballets at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center for Channel Islands Ballet Company and Ventura County Ballet Company. She has also directed ballet programs for the Music Festival under the direction of Nuvi Mehta and the Ventura Historical Museum. Other programs include Arts Explosion for San Buenaventura Foundation for the Arts, collaboration with the Ventura Master Chorale and Opera Association’s “Carmina Burana”, participation in the 2005 Ventura Music Festival, and bringing dance education to elementary schools in the Ventura Unified School District. In 2006, Ms. Noblin received on behalf of the Ventura County Ballet the Certificate of Recognition presented by Mayor Carl E. Morehouse and the City Council of the City of San Buenaventura for invaluable cultural programs provided to families throughout Ventura County.

  • Born in Russia, Ms. Fliagina graduated with distinction from the Perm State College of choreography in Russia. In 1990 she was accepted to Moscow State Theatre Kremlin Ballet where she worked with the renowned Vladimir Vasiliev and Ekaterina Maximova. She was then accepted to the world-renowned Perm Ballet where she was a soloist at the Perm State Opera House/ Tchaikovsky Ballet. She has performed roles in all the famous classical ballets and has toured internationally with the Russian Imperial Ballet, Moscow Classical ballet, and the Moscow Festival Ballet. Ms. Fliagina joined State Street Ballet as a dancer in 1998 and is presently a Rehearsal Director. In addition, she continues to appear in character roles in ballets like The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, and Cinderella.

    Ms. Fliagina has been an instructor at Ballet Academy Ventura since 2000. She has been Ventura County Ballet Company’s Associate Artistic Director and Choreographer and Ballet Mistress since 2005 and is presently Ventura County Ballet’s Artistic Director.

  • Nilas Martins, born in Copenhagen, received his early dance training at the Royal Danish Ballet School. As a student he performed with the Royal Danish Ballet in such works as John Neumeier’s Romeo and Juliet, August Bournonville’s Konservatoriet, A Folk Tale, Napoli and Glen Tetleys’s Firebird. In 1984, he moved to New York and enrolled at the School of American Ballet. In September 1986 he became a member of New York City Ballet. In 1991, he was promoted to the rank of soloist and in 1993 to Principal dancer.

    In New York City Ballet, Mr. Martins danced numerous featured roles and worked closely with choreographers: John Alleyne, Lynn Taylor Corbett, Boris Eifman, William Forsythe, Peter Martins, Trey McIntyre, Kevin O’Day, Jerome Robbins, Susan Stroman, Richard Tanner among others.

    Mr. Martins film credits include: “Live from Lincoln Center” broadcast of Ray Charles in Concert, “The Nutcracker” released in 1993 by Warner Brothers, “Dance in America” telecast of “Dinner with Balanchine” where he danced the role of Apollo with Paris Opera Etoile Isabel Guerin. “Lincoln Center Celebrates Balanchine 100” where he danced ‘The Man I Love’ from Who Cares? featuring Wynton Marsalis.

    Mr. Martins was one of ten fellows selected from both domestic and international applicants to study under Michael Kaiser as a Devos Institute for Arts Management fellow from 2010-2011.

    Mr. Martins ‘ teaching resume’ include Armitage Gone Dance, BalletMet, Baltimore School for the Arts, Goucher College, Harvard University, Indiana University, Joffrey Ballet School, Miami City Ballet School, National Ballet of China, NBA Ballet (Japan), New York City Ballet, Novosibirsk Ballet (Russia), NYSSA Summer Intensive, Princeton University, Royal Danish Ballet, School of American Ballet and Washington Ballet.

    Since 1996, Mr. Martins has been a Repetiteur for the George Balanchine Trust and stages ballets for companies and schools domestically as well as internationally.

  • Sergei Domrachev was born in Russia and graduated from the Perm Ballet Academy. He was a bronze medalist in the Vaganova Competition and the International Arabesque Competition in 1992, also earning the Audience Favorite Award.

    He has danced professionally as a Soloist with both Moscow Classical Ballet and Los Angeles Classical Ballet. Domrachev joined State Steet Ballet in 1997, and throughout his 20-year tenure has performed Principal and Character roles to critical and popular acclaim.

    Domrachev has been a guest artist with Ventura County Ballet for several seasons in staring roles.

  • Ms. Chudinova, originally from Feodosiya, Ukraine, holds a graduate degree from the Kyiv Choreographic College. She has performed with international companies including UBT “Premiera,” France Concert, Talmi Entertainment, and others.

    Ms. Chudinova has danced featured roles in La Bayadere, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, and many others. She has danced principal roles roles in Ventura County Ballet’s The Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cinderella, and Snow White.

  • Leeza was born in Santa Barbara, CA and started her training at State Street Ballet Academy and Ballet Academy Ventura. Leeza continued her education at Perm State International Ballet Academy and graduated with honors.

    In 2016 Leeza became a finalist of International TV show for Youth Talent in Moscow ‘’Blue Bird". In 2019 Leeza won Second Place at the International Ballet and Contemporary Dance Competition "Domenico Modugno" in Italy, were she also received a Special Jury Prize.

    She has performed a lead roles in ballets “La Fille Mal Gardee”(Lise), “Swan Lake” (Odette) “Coppelia” (Swanhilda), “La Bayadere” (Nikia), “Sleeping Beauty” (Princess Aurora), “Fire Bird” (Beloved Beauty), “Giselle” (Giselle) and “Nutcracker” (Dream Clara and Snow Queen). She has toured Internationally with professional ballet companies in Germany, Switzerland, China, Greece and Japan.

    Leeza has perform with Ventura County Ballet throughout her career, starting out as a Little Snow Flake and eventually staring as Dream Clara. She is a recent past company member with State Street Ballet.

    She has also been a lead instructor and rehearsal director at Northwest Studio of Ballet and Valley Performing Arts Council in Fresno.

Lisa Laubacher

  • Ms. Laubacher began her ballet training in Medellin, Colombia. She also trained with the Toledo Ballet School and National Ballet School of Mexico City. Ms. Laubacher performed with the Ballet de Medellin and the Palos Verdes Ballet. She joined the San Francisco Ballet for a summer intensive, and then went on the join the prestigious Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, Washington. Ms. Laubacher has also danced with the Santa Barbara Ballet and was a founding member of the State Street Ballet of Santa Barbara. Ms Laubacher performed in Ventura County with the Plexus Dance Theatre. Ms. Laubacher has been teaching and choreographing students in Ventura County for over 35 years. She enjoys Salsa and Latin dancing. She lives in Ventura, and is married and has two children and her 1st granddaughter, who dances at Ballet Academy Ventura.

  • Emi Pool was born in Oxnard California, and is an alumna of Ballet Academy Ventura. Ms. Pool began dancing at the age of eight at Ballet Academy Ventura and performed in numerous productions with the Ventura County Ballet Company.

    Under the direction of Bretislav Weidlich and Marina Fliagina respectively, she performed a variety of roles in classic ballets such as The Nutcracker, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake.

    Ms. Pool continued her studies at the University of California, Irvine, at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts. She performed in pieces by members of the staff and students and other known choreographers such as William Forsythe and George Balanchine. She was able to study a wide variety of dance types and train with many noted dance teachers such as Jodie Gates, Molly Lynch, Donald McKayle and Loretta Livingston. At UCI, Ms. Pool earned her Bachelors of Arts with a degree in Dance.

    Ms. Pool has been on staff with Ballet Academy Ventura since 2012.

  • Tigran Sargsyan began his dance studies at the Yerevan  Choreographic Dance College in Armenia. In 2011, Tigran was offered a scholarship under The Rudolf Nureyev Foundation to continue his education at the Dance Academy of Zurich in Switzerland, where he was trained and coached by Oliver Matz. In 2013, Tigran competed at the international ballet competition Prix de Lausanne and was awarded a full scholarship to the San Francisco Ballet School Summer Program.

    In 2014, Tigran joined Dortmund Ballet Theater in Germany, where he danced for two seasons. He then joined the Los Angeles Ballet as a Principal Dancer in 2016, dancing lead roles such as the Prince in The Nutcracker, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Prince Desire in Sleeping  Beauty, the Principal Man in George Balanchine’s Who Cares and Apollo, and many more. During his professional career, Tigran has worked with choreographers such as William Forsythe, Alexander Ekman, Jiri Kylian, Christian Spuck, Jiri Bubenicek, Alejandro Cerrudo, Azure Barton, Patricia Neary, Colleen Neary, and Thordal Christensen. He is a Rehearsal Director at State Street Ballet and the resident choreographer and guest artist with Hollywood Ballet. He is on faculty at a variety of studios in Southern California.

  • Jasmine Duncan started dancing at Ballet Academy Ventura at 4 years old. During her 14 year enrollment at BAV, she attended several summer intensives including Joffrey Academy of Dance (Chicago), San Francisco Ballet School, and State Street Ballet. Jasmine danced a variety of soloist roles for the Ventura County Ballet including Clara, Snow Queen, Dew Drop, and Rat Queen in the Nutcracker, Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty, and Kitri’s Friend in Don Quixote. In 2018, she was honored with the City of Ventura Mayor’s Arts Award for Student Artist and earned the Scholarship Award to the HARID Conservatory through her performance at the California Dance Classics competition. She later attended the University of Southern California, earning her bachelor’s degree in Non-Governmental Organizations and Social Change.

  • Meredith Ventura graduated with honors from UC Santa Barbara, with a BFA in Dance. She studied with Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv, Israel, and received her MFA in dance at Hollins University in collaboration with the Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main, and The Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company (formerly the Forsythe Company).

    She is now pursuing a PhD in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at UCSB. Ventura has produced full evening-length performances and presented works throughout the US and abroad, most recently in France, Estonia, Norway, Finland, and Italy.

    She is currently on faculty at dance studios throughout Southern California, and travels nationally and internationally as a dance educator and advocate for the arts.