With a connection to the Kirov, Bolshoi

Scranton-based instructor will offer dance workshop in Kingston

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Do the names Bolshoi or Kirov make your heart beat faster? How about Agrippina Vaganova, whose name is synonymous with the Russian Method of teaching ballet?

Dance instructor Valery Bogokina Myers has a connection to all three.

And while Myers often can be found teaching at the Red Shoes Dance Co. in Scranton. which she founded in 2004, she will offer a workshop in the Wyoming Valley on Sunday.

The workshop is set for 3 to 6 p.m. April 28 at the Dance Theatre of Wilkes-Barre, on the third floor of 239 Schuyler Ave., Kingston, and all levels of dance are welcome.

Yes, that means the workshop is open to beginners as well as experienced dancers, company members Brittney A. Baron and Stefani Trygar said.

“Valery meets students where they are,” Baron said, noting she herself began studying dance just a year ago.

The 3-hour workshop will begin with a traditional ballet barre class, which Baron describes as “all about having fun while learning to dance beautifully.”

It will be based on the Vaganova technique, sometimes called the Russian Method, which the Siberian-born Myers, whose family later moved to Ukraine, began to study as a youth at the Kirov Ballet Academy and Theater of Bolshoi Academy in Moscow.

Following the barre exercises Myers, who specializes in folkloric character dance, will teach a Ukrainian-style dance.

“So many people in northeastern Pennsylvania are of Eastern European heritage,” Baron said. “They might go to the Edwardsville Pierogie Festival, but this is a way to celebrate their heritage, too, to learn about the arts.”

The Red Shoes Dance Co. Workshop costs $25, which will be due on the day of class via cash or venmo.

The workshop is open to ages 3 and older. To register, text 570-906-0113 or send a message through the Facebook page for the Red Shoes Dance Co.