For more than 12 years, Sasha Krukava and Nurlan Kinerbayev have shared a life in ballet. They have built professional careers spanning Europe and the United States, danced some of classical ballet’s most iconic roles, and spent much of that time performing side by side.
Now married, they have begun a new chapter together in San Antonio as Associate Artistic Directors, principal dancers and master teachers with Alamo City Dance Company, part of Alamo City Arts.
And it all started with Giselle.
Sasha was in her first year with the ballet company and had already been given several leading roles. Nurlan had performed Giselle before, so he began helping her prepare for one of ballet’s most demanding roles.
Her talent was immediately obvious to him. So was something else: they had a natural chemistry as dance partners. “She was extremely talented and naturally stood out among the other dancers,” Nurlan remembered.
That connection quickly became something they could feel onstage. “We did not need long conversations to understand what the other person wanted to do,” they recalled. “We could sense each other onstage and understand one another almost instinctively.”
One of their favorite memories from that first Giselle came at the end of a performance when the audience rose to its feet. “It was an incredible feeling,” Nurlan said. “One of those rare performances when everything comes together, and you feel that everything worked one hundred percent.”
Somewhere in all of those rehearsals and performances, the emotions they were portraying onstage stopped being entirely pretend. “Eventually, the emotions we were portraying together onstage were no longer simply acting,” they said. “Those feelings had become part of our real lives.”
Nurlan was born in Kazakhstan and trained at the Almaty Choreographic College named after A.V. Seleznev. He has danced as a principal with the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in Almaty, Moscow City Ballet, Samara Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, Russian National Ballet and Manassas Ballet Theatre. His repertory includes Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Basilio in Don Quixote, Don José in Carmen Suite and Albert in Giselle. He has also served as an adjudicator and master teacher with Ballet Championships of America.
Sasha trained at the Minsk Ballet Academy in Belarus and went on to dance principal roles with the Minsk State Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Russian National Ballet and Manassas Ballet Theatre. Her repertory includes Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Kitri in Don Quixote, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty and the title role in Giselle.
For Sasha, what makes their partnership work comes down to trust. “When I dance with him, I know that he will do everything possible to make me feel secure and confident and to allow me to look my best onstage,” Sasha said.
“Sometimes emotional support can be even more important than physical support,” she added. “A great partnership is not simply about executing difficult lifts or partnering steps correctly. It is about trust, respect, responsibility and knowing that the person beside you is there for you.”
As Associate Artistic Directors of Alamo City Dance Company, their roles extend beyond performing. They teach, choreograph, coach company dancers, prepare students for ballet competitions, and help shape the artistic direction of the company.
They value an artistic environment where their experience and ideas are trusted and where they have the freedom to grow as teachers, choreographers and artistic leaders. “When someone truly believes in you, you begin to believe more strongly in yourself,” they said.
San Antonio also appealed to them because of its strong cultural identity and respect for history, tradition and the arts.
This season, Sasha and Nurlan are expected to appear in approximately 25 performances with Alamo City Dance Company, including Carmen, Carnival of the Animals, The Nutcracker, Rodeo, Romeo and Juliet and Don Quixote.
But just as important as what they bring to the stage is what they are now sharing with the dancers coming behind them. “We do not want our students simply to walk onto a stage and execute the choreography correctly. We want them to live the role, understand the character, and tell a story to the audience,” they explained. “For us, ballet is first and foremost an art form, not simply technique. When the audience believes you, ballet becomes more than movement. It becomes art.”
That philosophy is part of what drew them to Alamo City Arts, where they found an approach to dance that values growth beyond competitions and awards and creates opportunities for students with different abilities, strengths, backgrounds and goals.
“One of the most important things we can give a young person is the confidence to believe in themselves,” they said.
What began with two dancers and a performance of Giselle became a partnership, a marriage and a life in ballet together.
Now, they are sharing that life in ballet with the next generation.
