"At the International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria- considered by many the Olympics of ballet- the unprecedented has happened: For the first time in the competition's 320 year history, American dancers won the gold medals in both the men's and women's junior divisions. And to sharpen the surprise: Not only were the two winners- Rasta Thomas, 15, and Michele Wiles, 16,- both from the Washington area, but they also train at the same school, the Kirov Academy of Ballet."

Sarah Kaufmann
The Washington Post:
July 27, 1996

Michele Wiles is a graduate of the Kirov Academy's six year professional training program. Michele began competing in jazz and contemporary competitions even before entering the Academy. She has won a First Grand Champion Hall of Fame Title at the 1993 All American Talent Award competition and the title of Teen Miss Dance of America 1995 at the annual Dance Masters convention in New York City in 1994. Michele competed in her first international ballet competition in Nagoya, Japan, in February 1996, and was awarded a bronze medal. Six months later, Michele captured the gold medal for the junior division at the prestigious Varna International Ballet Competition. She now dances professionally with the American Ballet Theater.

Rasta Thomas came to dancing from martial arts. He began studying karate with his father when he was only three years old, and is a five-time Junior National Champion in both karate and tae kwon do. Rasta came to the Kirov Academy in 1991 and has completed the Academy's six year training program. In 1994 he won the prestigious jury prize at the 1994 Paris International Ballet and Contemporary Dance competition. In 1996 Rasta was an honoree at the World Jazz Dance Congress held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the week before he left for Varna he won the Bill Como Award of Excellence at Rhee Gold's American Dance Awards. At Varna, Rasta was awarded the gold medal for the junior male division and also received the "Youngest Dancer" award. Rasta is the youngest gold medal winner in the competition's history, and he is also the first American male to win a gold medal in the junior division. He went on to win the gold medal again in 1998 at the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi.

At 17 years old, Adrienne is the recipient of numerous national awards and titles, including the Women's Junior Gold Medal at the prestigious USA International Ballet Competition held in Jackson, Mississippi every four years. She was also the recipient of the "1998 Grishko Award of Excellence in Ballet" the same year. Since that time, Adrienne has become a veteran of both national and international performances. This past year, she was invited to guest nationally at gala and benefit performances in Vail, Boston, Dallas, New York, Pennsylvania, Baltimore, Virginia and Washington D.C. both as a solo artist and with senior Gold medalist and partner, Rasta Thomas. Last year she appeared internationally in the Baltic Ballet Festival in Riga, Latvia and at three gala performances in Japan and Korea. Most recently Adrienne appeared in November 99 as a soloist with the Universal Ballet Company in Seoul, Korea where she danced the role of Gamzatti in their world premiere of La Bayadere. She was invited back in December as a guest solist for "The Nutcracker" where she performed the Snow Adagio and Sugar Plum Fairy pas de deux as the older Clara. This year, Adrienne was named by "Washingtonian Magazine" as one of the 100 people to watch in the year 2000, and presented with citations from the County Council and State Senate of Maryland in recognition of her outstanding achievements in ballet.

Maria Bystrova was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. She entered the renowned Vaganova Choreographic Institute in 1992. Maria's natural aptitude for ballet and her unusual expressiveness were noticed at once, and in 1994, she was invited to the United States to study at the Kirov Academy. A critic reviewing a performance during her first year in America described her as a "miniature version of the quintessential Russian ballerina". Maria won the William Como Dance Magazine Scholarship Award at the 1998 Jackson International Ballet Competition, and won the Princess Grace Dance Scholarship in the same year. She has pleased audiences with her performances of the pas de deux from Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Nutcracker, Les Sylphides and Don Quixote. She made her debut as Giselle in May of 1999 with the Universal Ballet Company.