Dancers from today and tomorrow

As ballet siblings they are famous all over the world, as interview partners they are more than popular.
Anna Beke, dance history and dance theory teacher at the Ballett-Akademie der Hochschule für Musik und Theater in München, was able to invite Julian MacKay, Nicholas MacKay, Nadia Khan und Maria Sascha Khan from different countries and different time zones to a zoom talk with her students.
For almost two hours they were answering questions of the international students Alice Hunter from Ireland, Ayesha Lucido from Australia, Elise Smith from England und Aleksandra Trofimchuk from Ukraine about education, career, competition among siblings, artistic concepts, future plans and ideas for the transition into new job possibilities. Currently the family is preparing to present Yellowstone International Arts Festival in their hometown in Montana.
tanznetz.de presents (almost) the entire interview on this website – including minor sounds issues.
Please enjoy this unforced dialog between the ballet stars and the dancers from tomorrow.

Julian MacKay 23, is the youngest Principal Dancer of the San Francisco Ballet. He left rural Montana at the young age of 11 to train at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow Russia.
Upon graduating he became the first American to receive a full Russian Diploma, having completed both the upper and lower school. While in school he medaled in five consecutive International Ballet Competitions, including the Prix de Lausanne and gold medals at the Istanbul IBC and YAGP along with bronze at Sochi Young Ballet of the World and the Beijing International Ballet Competition.
At 17, while still in school, he made his professional debut as Siegfried in Swan Lake with the Russian State Ballet in Berlin. Graduating top of his class he was hailed as a young "Apollo" by Russian dance critics, dancing numerous roles on the Bolshoi stage. At the age of 17 Julian joined The Royal Ballet in London, as their 2016 Prix de Lausanne prize winner. Eight months later, upon personal invitation from Mikhail Messerer, MacKay joined The Mikhailovsky Theatre, St. Petersburg as a Second Soloist.
By 19 years old, Julian MacKay was promoted to First Soloist after a thrilling performance in Flames of Paris, and has danced numerous principal roles worldwide. At the height of his time at the Mikhailovsky Theatre he became an International Guest Artist.
Julian is fluent in Russian and has his Bachelors Degree as a Ballet Master and Choreographer from the prestigious GITIS University (Russian Institute of Theatre Arts), in Moscow, Russia.
In 2019 he founded MACKAY PRODUCTIONS with Nicholas MacKay , a worldwide production company specializing in the arts. MacKay is currently as a model with Next Models.

Born in Pray, Montana, at age 11, Nadia Khan left home to train at the prestigious Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington DC under the direction of Oleg Vinogradov. Being taught by Angelina Armeiskaya (star of movie "Children of Theatre Street"). She then moved to New York where she was privately trained by Prima Ballerina Assoluta Eva Evdokimova. Her final year of training was spent training one on one with Bolshoi star Masha Mukhamedov.
Nadia has been on the cover of Malaysia Tatler and Dance Informa Magazine as a "Dance Sensation". Starting her career with the Bayerisches Staatsballett in Munich, she danced works from Neumeier, Cranko, Petipa, Kylián, Balanchine, Ashton, and Ray Barra. And was also chosen as part of new creations by Slava Samodurov and Terence Kohler. She went on to dance with the Leipziger Ballett in Leipzig. And Compañía Nacional de Danza in Madrid, where she danced William Forsythe’s “In The Middle Somewhat Elevated” as well as being part of Johan Inger’s creation, “Carmen”.
Since 2015 Nadia has been dancing in the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma under the direction of Paris Opera Etoile Eleonora Abbagnato. Nadia's repertoire highlights in Rome include Swan Lake by Christopher Wheeldon as well as the Spanish Princess in Benjamin Pech’s Swan Lake. Giselle, Don Quixote, William Forsythe’s Artifact, Roland Petit's La Chauve Souris, Alexander Ekman's “CACTI”, “Walking Mad” by Johan Inger, Preljoçaj’s Snow White, and Jiří Bubeníček creation of “Carmen”.
Nadia has been invited to dance in the American Embassy in Rome. And has been featured, along with her three siblings, in the Russian Icon’s Gala in the London Coliseum, as part of the world premiere of “Warrior of Light”, a ballet about the artist, writer, archaeologist, theosophist, and philosopher, Nicholas Roerich. Since 2019 Nadia has performed in and, with her family, produced the Yellowstone International Arts Festival, an international arts festival in her home, Paradise Valley, featuring world class international artists from around the world.

Nicholas MacKay is a classically trained ballet dancer from both the prestigious Russian Vaganova Ballet Academy and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. Moving from Montana to Moscow at the age of 9, he is the youngest non russian to ever attend the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. While still a student, he performed with the Mariinsky, Bolshoi and Mikhailovsky Ballet Companies, toured Brussels and Berlin as a professional dancer in The Nutcracker, and performed in the original cast of the Bolshoi Ballet world premiere of Moidodyr.
At 15 Mackay was launched into the photographic world scene when his photos from “Project Polunin”, which was performed in Sadlers Wells featuring Sergei Polunin and Natalia Osipova, reached a worldwide audience. Continued success followed with photography/directing for Paris Opera, Mariinsky Theatre, Balmain, Bolshoi Theatre, designer Tatyana Parfionova, the Shanghai Russell James and Victoria's Secret Show, Bloch, Grishko Russia, the Vaganova Ballet Academy, Sobaka Magazine, Esquire China, TIMEOUT magazine and many more. At the age of 18 he started, together with his brother Julian, a worldwide production company MACKAY PRODUCTIONS to merge classical art, music and fashion. Nicholas, along with his brother Julian, is fluent in the Russian language.

Maria Sascha Khan is an international ballerina and former Principal Dancer of the Ekaterinburg State Ballet. Born on the porch of a log cabin in Montana, USA, she began her path to becoming a professional ballet dancer when, age ten, she was discovered by a former Bolshoi Ballet dancer.
Maria Sascha’s lifelong love of and dedication to her art form has seen her collaborate and bridge the gap between ballet and fashion, film.
Maria Sascha was trained under Luidmila Morkovina, at the Kirov Academy of Ballet, and under the personal mentorship of Marika Besobrasova (coach to Nureyev and Fonteyn) at the Academie de Danse Classique de Princesse Grace, Monte Carlo. She attended summers at The Royal Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet and American Ballet Theatre on scholarship.
Graduating with honours from the Academie, Maria Sascha was invited by Vladimir Malakhov to join the Staatsballett Berlin. Dancing a wide range of classical and contemporary repertoire she continued her career with the Bayerisches Staatsballett in Munich, the English National Ballet of London and as Principal dancer of the Ekaterinburg State Ballet, Russia.
Along with her performing career Maria Sascha is the Artistic Director of the Yellowstone International Arts Festival and Ballet Legacy Master Class programs worldwide. She has adjudicated as a jury member for international ballet competitions, is a mentor for non-profit arts organisation Youth Arts in Action and an ambassador for London based charity, Save Wild Tigers. Maria Sascha is currently pursuing her Master Degree at Central Saint Martins, in London.
Maria Sascha is an accomplished public speaker and produces an online video series called "Inspiring Artists".