Our Instructors
Kirsta Sendziak, Director
Kirsta Sendziak began her dance training and education in Buffalo, NY with Clare Fetto of The Festival School of Ballet and Elaine Gardner of Pick of the Crop Dance. She attended Hampshire College, completing a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and Psychology. Dancing for over 25 years, and in Boston since 2003, she has taken instruction from Anna Myer, Margot Parsons, Rebecca Rice, Marcus Schulkind, and Wanda Strukus. Kirsta has performed works by Elaine Gardner, Marcus Schulkind, Kelley Donovan and Dancers, Josie Bray and Wanda Strukus.
In 2009, Kirsta became Co-Director of The School of Classical Ballet, incorporating modern and jazz dance techniques into the curriculum. She became Director in 2011, and her incorporation of tradition and innovation into SOCB classes has been featured in articles in Harvard Magazine (January-February 2016, “Raising the Barre”: SOCB’s philosophy of educating children to focus on dance as a component of whole-child development), and Dance Studio Life (December 2016, “The Power of the Page”: SOCB Summer Intensive writing component).
Natalia Maldari
Natalia Maldari trained and danced with the New England Civic Ballet (now Northeast Dance Center) prior to attending Goucher College where she studied Ballet, Modern, and Choreography. Natalia has had the privilege of working at the Atelier de Paris Carolyn Carlson in Vincennes, France. She has also worked recently with choreographers Jennifer Roberts, Joe Gonzalez, Peter DiMuro, Vanessa White and Molly Wheat. She is a former member of Jo-Mé Dance Theatre, based in Boston. Natalia performs on a freelance basis and choreographs for small projects including National Choreography Month, The School of Classical Ballet Repertory Company, and the Vacation Program Dancers (Ballet with Molly). Some of her recent credits include performing in Dance Shorts (The Dance Complex, April 2016); Spanish, Snow, and Demi-soloist flower in The Nutcracker (Northeast Dance Center, 2015); choreography for “Miles to Go” (Vacation Dance Program, February 2016); “J’ai pas des Mots” (NaChMo Boston, Februrary 2014). She has been teaching at The School of Classical Ballet since 2011.
Madison Sweeney
Madison Sweeney is originally from Duluth, Minnesota, where she began her training at the Minnesota Ballet School under the direction of Robert Gardner. While dancing at the Minnesota Ballet School, Madison attended summer programs at ABT Tuscaloosa, The Washington School of Ballet, and the School of Ballet Arizona. Upon graduating high school, Madison studied at the School of Ballet Arizona under the direction of Ib Anderson and Carlos Valcarcel. Madison joined the Ballet Theater of Maryland in 2017 as a trainee. In 2018 she was promoted to apprentice, and then demi-soloist in 2019. Since joining BTM, she has performed many roles, including one of Dracula’s Brides in Eddie Stewart’s Dracula, the Lead Nomad in Don Quixote, and Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty. Madison has enjoyed many appearances with Ara Dance Project, a project-based company that illuminates the intersection of the human and the transcendent through movement.
Madison has had the pleasure of teaching creative movement, ballet, and modern since 2018. Prior to teaching at BTM, she was a TA for the ballet classes at the University of Minnesota Duluth and taught a creative dance class for students with physical/developmental challenges at the School of the Minnesota Ballet. Madison has had the opportunity to choreograph on multiple occasions for the trainee program at BTM, and in 2024 she had her choreographic debut for the professional company. Her piece, When the Well Runs Dry, is an allegorical exploration of the existential and ecological struggles that humanity faces.