Stephanie Murrish was born in Jackson, Mississipi. She grew up in New Orleans where she began her training with Harvey Hysell, Diane Carney, Gayle Parmelee, and studied privately for one year with Maestro Vincenzo Celli (the last student of the legendary Maestro Cechetti). She is an alumnus of the Nutmeg Ballet. As a result of the Prix de Lausanne, she was the first American to train on full scholarship at the Stedelijk Instituut voor Ballet, directed by Madame Jos Brabants in Antwerpen, Belgium with Maria Metchkarova from Kirov Ballet. As a student she had the opportunity to work with Madame Joy Newton from the Royal Ballet while performing the role of Princess Aurora in the Sleeping Beauty, as well as toured with the Royal Ballet of Flanders. She also received private coaching from Donna Bonasera, Xenia Kosorukov, Sasha Banderenko, and Bella Kovorskaya. 

She was an apprentice with the New Orleans Ballet, has been a Soloist with the Cincinnati Ballet, Principal Ballerina with the Ballet de Santiago in Chile under the direction of Ivan Nagy, Charleston Ballet Theatre under the direction of Jill Eathorne-Bahr and Patricia Cantwell, and for eleven years she and her husband, Daniil Gaifullin were Principal couple with the Sarasota Ballet of Florida directed by Robert De Warren, Sasha Yapparov and coached by Pavel Fomin.

Ms. Murrish’s repertoire includes the principal roles in Don Quixote, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Chopiniana, Coppelia, Paquita, Raymonda, Walpurgis Night, Natalia Makarova’s La Bayadere, Ben Stevenson’s Cinderella, The Nutcracker, Four Last Songs, Chang Shu pas de deux, Robert De Warren’s Madame Butterfly, Firebird, Carmina Burana, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Echo and Narcissis, The Nutcracker, and Zal and Rudebah, Jill Eathorne-Bahr’s Dracula,and Snow White, Balanchine’s Apollo, Rubies, Serenade, and Four Temperaments set by either Victoria Simon and Elyse Borne,, Fleming Flindt’s The Lesson, Harold Lander’s Etudes, Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Concerto, Jimmy Gammonet’s Nous Sommes, Vadim Fedotov’s Romeo and Juliet, Forever Mine pas de deux, Christopher Fleming’s Rock Opus and Romeo and Juliet, John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet, Vincente Nebrada’s Our Waltzes, Hilda Riveros’ Piaf, Ricardo Bustemante’s Dvorak American, Stephen Mill’s Naughty Ones, and Pavel Fomin’s Homage a Chopin. She has performed in various galas and tours within the USA and abroad. 

She was a finalist in the New York International Ballet Competition, during which a documentary was made following her throughout the competition. It aired on the CBS show, “Dancing with a Dream” with Charles Kerault. She is in the edition of Who’s Who in Entertainment, received the award for “Artistic Achievement” from Personalities of America, competed in the USAIBC, Prix de Lausanne and is the 2007 recipient of the YAGP ‘Outstanding Choreographer’s Award’.

As former Artistic Directors of the Lone Star Ballet and owner’s of the Ballet Amarillo Academy, she and her husband have staged and choreographed ballets such as The Nutcracker with the Amarillo Symphony, Firebird, Paquita, Gala of Stars, Alice in Wonderland, Aurora’s Wedding, Swan Lake, and La Traviata with the Amarillo Opera as well as numerous outreach performances within the community.

She has also been guest teacher with various schools within the USA and was part of the guest teaching faculty at the 2010 International Dance School of the USA International Ballet Competition that is held every four years in Jackson, Ms. 

In 2015, she was given the opportunity to choreograph “The March of the Presents” for the students in the Tulsa Ballet’s, The Nutcracker.

 

Ms. Murrish began her teaching career in 2004 while she still was performing. From 2010-2016 she served as a main faculty member and supervisor of the Open Division of the Tulsa Ballet Center for Dance Education.

In 2016, after a seven year absence from performing, she and her husband returned to the stage as quest artists, in performances of the Nutcracker in New Orleans and Fort Smith.

 

She is the former primary ballet mistress of the ballet class levels 3, 4, 5 and Co-Director with her husband of the Theatre Arts Ballet Competitive Program with Theatre Arts in Broken Arrow, OK.

For the past three years, their students received high prizes/scholarships from YAGP and ADCIBC.  For the past two years (2018 and 2019) they have been recognized with the prestigious Outstanding Teacher Award from YAGP.  Stephanie is also a Russian Pointe Program Teacher, 2018 & 2019.

 

She and her husband are now Artistic Directors/Owners of their new classical ballet training program,

Encore Ballet Conservatory in Tulsa, OK

She and Daniil, have a wonderful son named, Nikolas who is a freelance guest artist.