Our faculty

Owner / Director

Altin Naska

Ballet Master

Mr. Naska is an internationally known, award-winning choreographer, director, dancer, and master teacher with more than three decades of performing and teaching experience in Europe and the United States. He began ballet training at age ten at Albania’s National Ballet School and studied choreography at the Tirana University of Arts.

In 1991 he moved to Turkey, dancing with Istanbul State Opera and Ballet and the Istanbul City Theater. After moving to Chicago in 1999, he danced four seasons with Thodos Dance Chicago and Mordine & Company and appeared as a guest artist in suburban ballet productions.

Directing and choreography credits include Thodos Dance Chicago’s New Dances (2000–2003), the Dutch National Ballet’s New Voices program (2004), work with Joffrey Ballet dancers for the Dance Chicago 2005 Choreography Project, Stars of Dance Chicago (2006–present), artistic direction for Chicago Dance Theatre (2007), and co-founding SPACE Conservatory for Music, Dance and Drama (2005–2015). He is recognized for a fusion of ballet, character dance, and contemporary movement and has taught master classes across the Chicago area, nationally, and internationally.

Honors named on the academy site: Albania’s highest artistic achievement award (2003), Dance Chicago’s Outstanding Choreography Award (2007), and one of the 100 success stories of Albanian Excellence (2012). Besides directing Plainfield Dance Academy, he is Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Chicago Music and Dance International; Executive Artistic Director of Wheatland Dance Theater; and Artistic and Touring Director of Stars of Dance Chicago.

Co-Director

Olena Nalyvaiko

Ballet Mistress

Miss Olena is Co-Director and Ballet Mistress at Plainfield Dance Academy. She works with Mr. Naska on classical placement in the academy and the company. Published coverage of the academy’s Nutcracker names her as co-choreographer with Altin Naska and identifies her as a former dancer with the Moscow Ballet.

Earlier Moscow Ballet audition press describes her as audition director and a 2011 graduate of Kyiv State Choreographic College, accredited as an Artist of Ballet and Teacher of Professional Ballet Disciplines. Placement decisions for solos, duos, trios, and ensemble rest with Mr. Altin and Miss Olena.

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Contemporary · Lyrical · Jazz

Devon Lloyd

Miss Devon

Miss Devon teaches Contemporary, Lyrical, and Jazz at Plainfield Dance Academy, including the numbered Contemporary-Jazz track beside the Vaganova week. A dancer, educator, and adjudicator from Naperville (now based in DeKalb), she graduated summa cum laude with a BFA in Dance from Western Michigan University.

Early jazz and tap training deepened into modern dance at WMU, where she worked with artists including Peter Chu, Eddie Ocampo, Rennie Harris, and Ohad Naharin and performed works by mentor Carolyn Pavlik at the John F. Kennedy Center. She has taught and choreographed nationwide; spent more than twelve years with Universal Dance Association (including the London New Year’s Day Parade and high-school and collegiate adjudication); and serves as Co-Director with Hot Crowd Dance. She also teaches at LOVV The Dance Studio and is Show Director and Emcee for CRU Dance Competition. Parents know her as Miss Devon.

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Children’s Ballet · PBT

Sonia Garcia

Miss Sonia

Miss Sonia leads Children’s Ballet and Progressing Ballet Technique. Here the youngest dancers learn classroom etiquette, music, and the first classical habits that prepare them for the academy track. She teaches to the school’s goals of talent, commitment, discipline, and team spirit, and she encourages students to pursue their dreams in dance and in life.

Progressing Ballet Technique builds strength and alignment and prepares dancers safely for Ballet I–VI and, in time, for pointe. Pre-Ballet and Pre-Tap begin here. Call the studio for placement.

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