MONACO. Ananyan Ballet will present The Nutcracker at the Théâtre des Variétés on Saturday 27 June 2026 at 6 pm. The classical version, in two acts, uses Tchaikovsky's original score. Around forty young dancers from the school, from age three upwards, share the stage with guest principals. Victoria Ananyan, former principal dancer with Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, directs. The production is presented in collaboration with the Aleksandr Savchuk Charitable Foundation, led by Taisiya Savchuk-Polishchuk.
A school open to the children of Monaco
Ananyan Ballet has been training children in Monaco for five years. The studio is located in France adjacent to Monaco, and the children enrolled are residents of the Principality. The school currently enrols around thirty-five children across three cohorts (ages 3 to 6, 7 to 9, and 9 to 14). The training follows the Vaganova method, the foundation of the Russian tradition, and adds elements from the French, Italian, English, American, neoclassical and contemporary schools.
The school's positioning is explicit: "the same education for everyone." Where the Académie Princesse Grace recruits its students through international selection, Ananyan Ballet enrols families settled in Monaco without prior selection. Victoria Ananyan describes the school's role as complementary to the existing institutions, not in competition with them: "I am not entering as an enemy." Over five years, Ananyan Ballet has staged several productions with the Foundation.
"For five years we have been growing, step by step. I started with a small group and built this school from scratch. These are not imported professionals, they are Monaco's own children, and they are performing at a level that speaks for itself. I want the people of Monaco to come and witness what we have built, because there is a place for us here."
Toulon and Sanremo 2026
In 2026, the school took part in the 27th International Competition of Toulon. Ananyan Ballet's class, which trains three hours per week, took second place against selective schools whose students train sixteen hours per week. Victoria Ananyan brought the entire class, without selecting only the strongest students, and without a prior rehearsal on the Toulon stage. The father of a student from one of those sixteen-hours-a-week schools, placed behind Ananyan Ballet's students, has since asked to enrol his daughter at the school for the next season. Shortly afterwards in Sanremo, one of Ananyan Ballet's students again took second prize.
Victoria Ananyan, artistic direction
Victoria Ananyan was first trained by her mother, herself a teacher of classical ballet, and only afterwards at the Perm State Choreographic School, from which she graduated with honours in 2003. She was a principal dancer with Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo for ten years, under the direction of Jean-Christophe Maillot and the patronage of H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover. She has performed at the Théâtre Garnier, the Grimaldi Forum, and on the main stages of Europe, North America and Asia, in lead roles across a repertoire that includes Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker and La Bayadère. She also danced at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.
She holds an MBA from the International University of Monaco (2024) and received the Best Entrepreneurial Project award from the Monaco Economic Board in 2025. She also holds two teaching diplomas from PNSD Rosella Hightower.
"It is not really a business. It is a way of life, a dedication, a mission. If I do not do it, no one will."
