About
My story
Hi, I'm Daria Ivanenko, and ballet has been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember.
My ballet journey started at the Kharkiv Choreographic School in Ukraine. Even while we were still at school, we were already performing in children's ballet productions and travelling with them around Europe and Asia. At the same time, I was doing rhythmic gymnastics until I was 12.
But honestly, the stage got me. 😉
After taking part in more and more ballet performances, I completely switched to the ballet side — and I have never really looked back.
Then came the choreographic college, and after that, the theatre — pretty much the classic ballet story.
I joined a theatre as a corps de ballet dancer. One year later, I danced my first leading role. Two years later, I went on my first leading international tour.
It sounds like everything was going exactly as planned. And in many ways, it was.
But life inside a theatre can be complicated. There are politics, internal situations, decisions you cannot always control, and sometimes simply not enough opportunities to dance the repertoire you dream about.
So when we were offered the opportunity to move to a European theatre, we decided to take it.
It turned out to be a very important step in our careers. Shortly after joining the theatre, we were invited to take part in a new production of La Bayadère, created by the incredible dancer and choreographer Vladimir Malakhov. I was given the opportunity to dance Nikiya, while my husband danced Solor.
It was an amazing experience — but after two years in the theatre, we realised something important.
We were performing much less classical repertoire than we had expected.
And that made us ask ourselves: what do we actually want from our ballet careers?
We had already had some experience with short tours before, working with different companies from Ukraine and Russia. So we knew the touring world — at least a little. We knew how it worked, what to expect, where to look, and, most importantly, we had already started building our reputation and contacts.
So in 2017, we made another big decision.
We left the theatre world and became freelance ballet dancers.
And that is when the real adventure began.
- Which company should we join?
- Who should we contact?
- How do you even find the right opportunity?
- How do you know if a company is trustworthy?
- What will the working conditions actually be like?
- Will you get paid?
- What happens if everything goes wrong?
We have asked ourselves all of these questions.
And we have learned the answers the hard way — through our own experience, mistakes, successes, unexpected situations, hundreds of performances and years of travelling around the world as professional ballet dancers.
Over the years, I started noticing more and more young dancers asking the same questions I once had:
- What do I do after ballet school?
- How do I get into a theatre?
- What if I don't want to work in a theatre?
- Which ballet company should I choose?
- Will they actually pay me?
- What are the working conditions really like?
- How do I know if this company is right for me?
And I realised that I could actually help.
Because I have been on both sides of the journey. I know what it feels like to be a young dancer with a ballet diploma and absolutely no idea what comes next. And I know how overwhelming it can be to make career decisions when all you want is to dance.
That is why I created Career in Ballet.
My goal is not simply to help dancers find a job.
I want to help you find the right company for you — a place where you can dance, grow, feel respected, and actually enjoy being a professional ballet dancer.
Because your career should be more than just getting a contract.
It should be a place where you can shine on stage — and feel good behind the scenes, too.