Inna has more than 13 years of experience as a professional dancer and 15 years of experience as a Ballet Mistress. She graduated Cum Laude from the State Academy of Choreography and Dance in Voronezh, Russia. She has performed as a soloist with Kiev Classical Ballet Theater (Ukraine). During her artistic career, Inna toured in France, Spain, Germany and Poland as a principle dancer. This impressive career both informs her artistic and technical expertise.
Inna began her teaching career at Bat-Dor dance school where she taught Classical and Character Dance in 1992. Later, she moved to the United States to teach the Character Dance at San Francisco Ballet School. From 2000 until the summer of 2007 Inna was Ballet mistress at Westlake School for the Performing Arts (Daly City, CA). During her tenure there she prepared students for many performances including Nutcracker, competitions and recitals. Some pieces that her students tackled were taken from the great classical Repertoire. Her final year included students participating triumphantly in the Aberdeen International Youth Festival (Scotland).
In 2002, American Dance Awards named Inna the "Choreographer of the Year" and in 2016 Miss Bayer was awarded, "Outstanding Teacher" at the Youth American Grand Prix (YAGP) in San Francisco. Her students win first prizes at international and regional competitions such as Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP), International Dance Challenge (IDC), and American Dance Awards.
Inna founded her school in 2005 out of a passion for Ballet. Students will participate in a yearly culminating final performance and community events.
Inna's students from Israel and the United States have danced in European and American professional dance troupes such as: Batsheva Dance Company (Israel), Ballet Israely (Israel), Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company (Israel), Scottish Ballet (Scotland), Compania Nacional de Danza (Nacho Duato Artistic Director), State Ballet of Georgia, Alberta Ballet (Canada), Inbal Pinto Dance Company, Austin Ballet, Boston Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Smuin Ballet, and more.
Inna Bayer
Founder and Artistic Director
Faculty
Ivan is a graduate of the Moscow State Academy of Choreography (Bolshoi Ballet Academy). He began his artistic career as Principal Dancer with the Natalia Satz Musical Theatre (formerly the Moscow State Opera and Ballet Theatre) in Moscow, Russia. There he performed lead roles such as Siegfried in Swan Lake (choreographers M. Petipa/L. Ivanov), Prince in The Nutcracker (V. Vainonen), Meners in Scarlet Sails, Wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, and Prince in Cinderella (B. Ljapajev).
In Italy, for a decade, Ivan performed as a Principal Dancer with the San Carlo Theater Company in Naples. In that capacity, he collaborated with acclaimed choreographers such as R. Nureyev, R. Petit, R. North, M. Sparemblek, R. Nunez, V. Sieni, N. Glushak, F. Monteverdi, R. Fascilla, L. Cannito, among others. Some of his lead roles included Don Escamilo in Carmen (Petit), Spring in Cinderella (Nureyev), Csardas in Pipistrello (Petit), Lenskij in Onegin, Benvoglio in Romeo and Juliet (G. Cranko), First Shining Dancer in Allegro Brilliante (G. Balanchine), English Dancer in Exelsior (U. Dell Ara), Chopiniana in Les Sylphides (M. Fokin), German Official in Amarcord (Cannito), and Pas de trois, Pas de quatre in Swan Lake.
In 2007, Ivan graduated with Honors from the Moscow State Academy of Choreography with a degree in Pedagogy and Choreography. Advanced education, combined with his distinguished artistic career, has made Ivan a sought-after master teacher in Classical, Historical, and Character Dance. To date, he has created fifty or so original choreographies and staged the repertories for various international ballet performances and dance events.
In collaboration with Riccardo Riccardi, Ivan translated in Italian from Russian The School of Russian Ballet: Vaganova Method by V.S. Kostrovitskaja and A.A. Pisarev (Little Library of Arts, Gremese, 2007). This book was chosen by the National Academy of Dance in Rome as a manual for teachers and students.
Ivan is currently on the faculty of Bayer Ballet Academy™ (Mountain View, CA, USA), where he teaches Ballet Technique, Character and Partnering.
Ivan Goliandin
Master Teacher; Ballet, Character
Founder and Artistic Director
Christina Wood began dancing at age 3, training at Westlake School of the Performing Arts (WSPA) for 14 years. Under the instruction of Inna Bayer, Malu Rivera-Peoples and Cristina Fargas she rose to the rank of principal dancer, performing various leading roles in ballets, including the Sugar Plum Fairy in the WSPA dance company's "Nutcracker". As a member of WSPA's performance program Christina has performed both locally, nationally and internationally.
She studied in a wide array of dance styles, including ballet, tap, jazz, modern, contemporary, character, hip-hop, hula and Tahitian styles. A respected dancer among her peers, Christina was voted WSPA's Outstanding Student of the Year in both the Junior and Senior levels. In 2004 Christina was awarded 2nd place for her performance of a contemporary solo at the Youth American Grand Prix (YAGP). This same year she was runner up for Dancer of the Year at the American Dance Awards (ADA).
Christina began training to become a dance teacher at age 12 by volunteering as a teacher's aide at WSPA. In the summer of 2006 Christina was hired to teach ballet-tap and hula classes to the younger students at WSPA. While continuing to teach and dance for WSPA Christina attended San Francisco School of the Arts High School. Here she received additional dance training and graduated in 2008. Christina has completed all levels of the official Bolshoi Ballet Academy Teacher Certification Program. She is currently teaching Tahitian dance at Nemenzo Polynesian Dance Group in Daly City, CA and attending Skyline College, focusing her studies on early childhood development. Christina's repertoire includes variations and excerpts from classical ballets, such as "La Bayadère", "Sleeping Beauty", "Le corsaire", "Don Quixote", "Paquita" and "Nutcracker"
Christina Wood
Director and Instructor, Pre-Ballet
Virginia Munday
Instructor, Contemporary
Marina
Instructor, Pre-Ballet
Christine Wood
Administrative Assistant
Elena Zabelina
Office Manager
Lisa So
Administrative Assistance
Vadim Rivkin
Pianist
Virginia Munday was born and raised in Lakeland, Florida where she began dancing at an early age. She received her BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and went on to pursue dance in New York City. After completing her MFA in Choreography with Distinction, at Roehampton University of London in 2012, her collaborative choreographic works, with dance artist Tiffany Gibson, were presented at Roehampton University, Dance4 Nottingham and The Place, London. Virginia’s work has been presented in the U.S., Japan and Europe.
Virginia now resides in San Jose, California, where she creates her own work and dances with Kusanovich Dance. Her teaching credits include San Jose City College, Yerba Buena High School, The Living Wisdom School and guest artist classes at Santa Clara University. Currently, Virginia teaches at Bayer Ballet Academy, is an adjunct faculty member at Foothill College and Cabrillo College, and is a Teaching Artist with Joe Goode Performance Group in San Francisco. As Secretary for the California Dance Education Association (CDEA), she is also involved in dance education advocacy across the state. Virginia enjoys opportunities to choreograph, perform, teach and share her love for dance with the community.
Marina began rhythmic gymnastics training when she was 4 and began dancing at the age of 6. With six years of competition experience, Marina was a medalist in many Russian gymnastics championships. From the age of nine years old, she has concentrated and dedicated her life to dancing.
​
In 2003, Marina graduated from the Academy of Culture and Art, in Novosibirsk, Russia with a degree in Choreography as a Ballet Master. Marina graduated with honors and awards.
Marina has performed professionally with Irina Smirnova Collective, Victoria Dance Company, Sergey Suncov Collective, Seventh Sense Ballet Company performing various classical (Vaganova School of Ballet technique), jazz/modern, historical and character roles.
​
Marina has experience instructing students of all ages in classical ballet, character dance and gymnastics, and is extremely passionate about her work. She is currently working with the Pre-Ballet program.