• Artistic Director, Premier Youth Dance Company

    Gunta Liepina-Miller is a Latvian choreographer, dancer, dance instructor, and Fulbright scholar currently working in Southern California. She got her MFA in Dance at University of California, Irvine, and her BFA in dance in Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music. In addition, she has studied at CODARTS Rotterdam Dance Academy in the Netherlands, Tsech summer academy in Moscow, Ate9 in LA, Mark Morris, Complexions contemporary ballet in NYC, and many more.

    As a dancer she has performed with ballet company Grande, Indra Reinholde chamber ballet, contemporary dance company Kairos in Los Angeles, Emergent dance company and has worked with such choreographers as Lisa Naugle, Jessica Torres, Keith Derreck – Randolph, Mario Camacho, Anouk van Dijk, Hans van Manen, Lorand Zachar. She has also worked as a commercial dancer and choreographer for TV shows The X Factor and Your Face Sounds Familiar.

    Gunta’s works have been showcased in Highways Space in Santa Monica, The Latvian National Opera in Latvia, Lithuania, Thailand, China, Russia, Italy, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Israel, etc. Gunta’s reimagined ballet Nutcracker was nominated for the Latvian Dance Awards and received the audience choice award. Her choreography and dancers advanced to the semi finals in the TV show Dance Revolution in Lithuania. She has been awarded second place at the prestigious Palm Desert Choreography Festivale Her students have won and been recognized at the Youth America Grand Prix semi finals and finals. She has been awarded the Outstanding Choreographer award at the YAGP and ICON Dance Awards convention. Her students have been accepted at the Latvian ballet school classical and contemporary dance programs, The Northern School of Contemporary Dance in UK, Copenhagen Contemporary dance school, Elephant in the Black Box Youth Dance Company in Spain, Loyola Marymount University, UC Irvine and many more.

    Together with her husband Stefan Miller she has established the Young Artist Residency in Kuldiga, Latvia for young emerging singers and dancers.

  • Artistic Director, Premier Ballet School of Orange County

    Nazgul Ryskulova Shinn has been teaching ballet for the past ten years. Having experience teaching all age levels from toddlers to advanced, her students have gained great growth and success, as shown by them placing in various ballet competitions such as the YAGP, WBAC Grand Prix, Prix de Lausanne, Spotlight, and many more.

    Nazgul received her training from the Almaty Ballet Academy in Kazakhstan. Upon graduation, she was invited to work at the Kyrgyz National Ballet Theater as a coryphée. She was then awarded a scholarship to study at the Kirov Ballet Academy in Washington D.C.; whereuponshe was recruited to work at the Universal Ballet Company, under the artistic direction of Oleg Vinogradov in Seoul, Korea.

    As a dancer she has toured throughout Asia, Europe, and North America, including performances in Japan, Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, France, England, Austria, Canada, and the US. Her professional repertoire includes classical ballets such as La Sylphide, Swan Lake, Giselle, Don Quixote, La Bayadere, The Nutcracker, Chopiniana and Sleeping Beauty, as well as contemporary.

  • Assistant Artistic Director PBSOC

    Marina Ten is currently one of the top teachers in Seoul, Korea from the Seoul Arts High School. Her past students have been successful in many ballet competitions, and several are dancing professionally. She has had numerous students qualify for the Prix de Lausanne every year for the past 7 years in addition to having success in other major competitions such as Tanzolymp in Berlin, Germany.

    Marina graduated from the Novosibirsk Ballet Academy in Russia in 1997, where she began her training in the Vaganova method of ballet. Upon graduation, she was invited to dance at the Omsk Ballet Theater as a soloist. In 2004, she joined the Korea National Ballet Company in Seoul, Korea where she danced for 7 years as a soloist. Marina’s professional teaching career began in 2011 at the Korean National Ballet Academy. She furthered her teaching education by earning teaching certifications from the Moscow Ballet Academy (Bolshoi Ballet Academy) in 2012 and the A. Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg in 2015 under the tutelage of the top ballet masters in Russia. Marina was able to leverage her extensive experience and training under the Vaganova method of ballet, into her career as a top ballet instructor in Seoul. We are excited for Marina to bring that expertise to the Premier Ballet School of Orange County.