At the age of 10, Liliana Roberta Durlai joined the vocational ballet school, Octavian Stroia in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, to begin the vigorous Vaganova Russian training. She followed vocational training until the age of 18 and finished as the top student in her class.
During her studies, Liliana has participated and won many National Ballet Competitions. She was chosen at the age of 17 to join Logrea Dance Academy, School of Westchester Ballet Company, in the USA to dance the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker Ballet.
She won 1st prize in several National Competitions with ballet variations such as Coppélia, La Fille mal gardée, Don Quixote Act III Kitri Variation, and Pas de Deux such as Flames of Paris, Le Corsaire and La Sylphide. She has participated in the prestigious Varna Ballet Competition and received an Honour Diploma from the Cluj-Napoca mayor.
During her career, she has danced main roles in ballets such as Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Giselle, Coppélia and Sleeping Beauty, as well main roles in contemporary productions staged and choreographed by well-known international choreographers. She has performed extensively in ballet productions and dance festivals in Italy, Germany, France, Slovenia, Romania, United Kingdom, America, and Mongolia.
Liliana has been a soloist dancer with the Timisoara National Theatre, Romania, the Croatia National Theatre. She also danced with the English National Ballet, Maribor Theatre, Slovenia and was Principal Dancer with the Vienna Festival Ballet in the UK.
While still dancing, she gained a Professional Dancer’s Teaching Diploma from the Royal Academy of Dance in the UK and furthered her studies by completing her Master’s degree in Culture, Policy & Management in London. She is also a member of Unesco International Dance Council. Liliana has been featured in Dance Europe Magazine, BBC News and even in a Ballet book The Illustrated Book of Ballet Stories published in 2005.
Liliana has taught in well-known vocational schools in Romania, the UK and Singapore and some of her students have taken a vocational path and joined prestigious dance schools such as Elmhurst Ballet School, Central Ballet, the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and Tring School of Dance, in the UK, McDonald College, Australia, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, as well as the Royal Ballet and Central Ballet School Summer Intensives. She has now made Singapore her home and is happy to share her knowledge and experience with students who are keen to learn and embrace dance as a way of life.
Her vision is to give everyone the right to perform and continue to challenge the students to work to the best of their abilities. Performers Ballet Academy students have gained places in well-known vocational dance schools and received Merit and Distinction in their RAD exam results.
