Pia Russo

Pia Russo is a classical ballet pedagogue and ballet mistress with over forty years of experience across Italy, Europe, the United States, Asia and South Africa.
She trained as a dancer at the Cosi–Stefanescu School in Reggio Emilia under Liliana Cosi and Marinel Stefanescu, and as a teacher of Classical–Academic Technique in the teachers’ course of the Ballet School of Teatro alla Scala in Milan with Anna Maria Prina.

After her early career as a dancer, she continued as a ballet mistress with Italian companies and opera houses such as Fondazione Arena di Verona, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Balletto di Roma, Balletto del Sud and Balletto di Milano, teaching daily company class and leading rehearsals.

From 2013 to 2016 she served as School Principal of the Tulsa Ballet Center for Dance Education (USA), directing a multi–level school and overseeing curricula, technical and artistic standards, performances and placement pathways. During this period she experienced first–hand the strong organisational culture typical of the Anglo–American system, with its clear definition of roles, long–term planning and collaborative approach to work. From 2017 to 2019 she taught at the Ballet School of Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, gaining in–depth insight into the dynamics and potential of a ballet school within a major opera house.

As a guest teacher she has led classes, masterclasses and workshops in numerous international institutions, including the Conservatorio Profesional de Danza de Burgos, Balet Konservatorij Maribor, the Hartt School – University of Hartford, intensive programmes in Japan and China – where she worked in Shenzhen at the invitation of étoile Xue Jinghua, in collaboration with teachers of the China National Ballet Academy – and recent projects with Joburg Ballet in South Africa.