Olga Sharutenko - Feature Artist 
As a young girl, Olga Sharutenko wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a figure skater and began her training at the age of six. She and her skating partner joined the Russian National Junior team and in 1995 became Junior World Champions. After this success, they were invited to join the Russian Senior National team and were to enjoy great success in their sports, winning numerous competitions around the world.
In 1999 she joined the theatrical skating troupe Russian Ice Stars and performed in Peter Pan On Ice, The Phantom of the Opera on Ice, Barnum On Ice and also performed in the UK and Australian tour of Nutcracker on Ice, where she performed the lead role of Clara.
Olga wowed audiences when she joined the Imperial Ice Stars production of Sleeping Beauty on Ice, playing the role of the Lilac Fairy and looks forward to playing Odette in 2006/2007 Worldwide tour of Swan Lake on Ice.
1993 Blue Swords Trophy, Germany 1st
1994 Blue Swords Trophy, Germany 1st
1995 Nebelhorn Trophy, Germany 1st
1995 World Championships (J), Hungary 1st
1995 Alps Cup, Germany 1st
1996 Memorial K Shaffer, Austria 1st
1996 Che Skate, Ostrava 2nd
1996 Lysiane Lauret Challenge, France 3rd
1996 Russian Skating Championships, Russia 1st
1997 Skate Israel, Israel 3rd
1997 Russian Skating Championships, Russia 1st
1998 Russian Skating Championships, Russia 1st
1998 Winter Universiade, Slovenia 1st
1999 Winter Universiade, Sth Korea 1st
1999 Skate Canada, Canada 6th
1999 Galzerkirkhin Cup, Germany 6th
2004 Cup of Siberia 1st
In addition, Olga has won a further 15 Gold, 4 Silver and 11 Bronze Medals.
Click here to visit the Official Olga Sharutenko fansite.
Olena Pyatash - Feature Artist 
Olena Pyatash began to skate at the age of five in her home town of Kharkov, Ukraine, where she trained as an Ice Dancer. She took part in numerous ice skating competitions around the world and enjoyed a notable sports career.
She joined the Bobrin Ice Theatre in Moscow in 1996 and in 1997 joined the Russian Ice Stars performing in productions of Sleeping Beauty, Barnum, Sensational Ice and the Australia and New Zealand tour of Nutcracker On Ice.
Elena was delighted to join the Imperial Ice Stars in their 2004/2005 tour of Sleeping Beauty on Ice. The most important thing in her life is her young son, Devid.
1992 Ukrainian National Championships, Ukraine 1st
1992 Republican Junior Games, Ukraine 2nd
1993 Polish Figure Skating Championships, Poland 2nd
1993 Ukrainian National Championships, Ukraine 1st
1993 USSR Junior Winter Games, USSR 1st
1993 Junior Cup of Ukraine 1st
1993 Junior European Olympics, Spain 1st
1994 Winter Games, Russia 3rd
1994 Cup of Germany, Germany 3rd
1994 Universiade, Italy 3rd
1994 Ukrainian National Championships, Ukraine 1st
1995 Ukrainian National Championships, Ukraine 1st
1995 Blue Swords Trophy, Germany 2nd
1996 World Championships, Hungary
1996 Universiade, Spain 3rd
Vadim Yarkov – Feature Artist 
Vadim was born in Kazakhstan and started to skate at the age of six. At 15 he moved to the city of Sverdlorsk and began to skate as a pair skater. He was a member of the USSR national team from 1991 to 1995 and won a total of 16 gold medals, 20 silver medals and 9 bronze medals. He also became a Master of Sport, International Degree.
In 1995, Vadim joined the ice company founded by Tatiana Tarasova and in 1996 he joined the Moscow on Ice Company and performed in California, USA. In 1997, he joined the Russian Ice Stars, and appeared for them for seven years, performing leading roles in all productions. IN 2004 Vadim joined the Imperial Ice Stars, playing the role of the Prince in the worldwide tour of Sleeping Beauty on Ice.
When he has time to relax, he enjoys listening to music, watching movies and riding motor scooters.
Andrei Penkine - Feature Artist 
Andrei, who has been skating since the age of three, was born in St. Petersburg. His career began as a single skater competing in many European competitions; he won Bronze medals at the Baltika Cup and Championship of St. Petersburg.
Andrei turned professional in 1998 and joined the Russian Ice Stars; he has appeared in Cinderella, Peter Pan, The Phantom of the Opera, Barnum, Nutcracker on Ice and Ice Spectacular.
Andrei joined the Imperial Ice Stars in 2004, touring Worldwide in Sleeping Beauty on Ice. In his spare time Andrei enjoys all types of sports including tennis and watching his hometown football team Zenit; he is an avid supporter of Manchester United.
1991 Baltic Trophy, Finland 2nd
1991 Leningrad Trophy, Russia 3rd
1992 Helsinki Trophy, Finland 3rd
1992 Leningrad Trophy, Russia 3rd
1992 Baltic Trophy, Finland 2nd
1993 Leningrad Trophy, Russia 2nd
1993 Baltic Trophy, Finland 2nd
1994 Leningrad Trophy, Russia 2nd
1994 Baltic Trophy, Finland 2nd
Vasily Andreev 
Vasily was born in 1985 and began skating at the
age of 4 at the sports school for children and
juniors in Kirov. At 10 years old he moved to ice
dancing and joined the Russian Ice Dancing
National Team where he was trained by the
Team’s head coach Oxana Domin as well as
I. F. Fedorovyh.
At the age of 17 Vasily finished his amateur
career and left for St Petersburg, where he joined the State
Ballet on Ice and performed in many shows.
Vasily’s passions are cars and historical books.
Andrei Averkine
Andrei Averkine was born in Moscow and began his skating training at five; at the age of eight he won his first competition, the Moscow Cup. He finished his sports skating career at the age of 17 and joined the Big Moscow Circus on Ice for three years.
Andrei joined The Imperial Ice Stars in 2004 when he appeared in Sleeping Beauty on Ice. Andrei likes to collect the currencies of foreign countries in his spare time.
1991 Moscow Cup (Junior) 1st
1997 Russian Army Championships 1st
1999 Russian Cup 3rd
1999 Russian Army Championships 3rd.
Maria Balaba
Maria was born in 1988 in Latvia and started skating at the age of five. She has always been a single skater. In 2000 Maria joined the Latvian Skating Team and won the National Championship many times. She has also participated in numerous international competitions, Grand-Prix and Junior World Championships.
Her hobbies are reading books and photography.
Andrei Bannikov
Andrei was born in Ekaterinburg in 1975 and started skating at the age of seven. He joined the
Russian National Team and was a medalist in
numerous international competitions. His first ice
show in 1999 saw him in the lead role as Raoul
in The Phantom of the Opera on Ice with the
Russian Ice Stars UK tour. Other shows include
the Disney on Ice production Hercules on Ice as
Hedis and the 20th Century Fox production
Anastasia on Ice as Rasputin.
Andrei went on to perform in pairs for Skate of
Champions, Ice Theater of New York and many
other production companies. Andrei has
performed at many prestigious venues around
the world including MGM Grand – Las Vegas,
Rockefeller Center – New York City, Tropicana –
Atlantic City, Cypress Gardens – Florida, New
York New York Casino – Las Vegas, Beau Rivage
– Biloxi, Madison Square Gardens – New York
and many theatres worldwide.
Andrei has performed for various TV Specials on
Entertainment TV, ABC and MTV, and on special
events for Toyota, General Electric, Coca-Cola,
Showtime Channel, Merrill Lynch and Quebec
Delegation.
Andrei gained a Bronze Medal in the 2001 American Open Professional Championship.
His hobby is computer graphics art. He is known for his surreal video projections which are used in numerous entertainment venues, and his artworks have been covered in magazines and exhibited in galleries worldwide.
Maxim Beliakov
Maxim Beliakov began his career in ice skating in 1986, in his home town of Nizhniy Novgorod. After taking part in numerous Ice Skating Competitions as a single skater, he turned professional in 2001 and began performing in Ice Shows. He is a graduate of the University of Physical Culture in Nizhniy Novgorod. He enjoys reading in his spare time and also likes to play billiards and football.
Bogdan Berezenko
Bogdan was born in 1984 in the Ukrainian town of Dnepropetrovsk. When he was four his mother gave him a pair of skates, and having started as a single skater he moved into pairs, attaining a Master of Sports. He took part in numerous competitions including the stages of Grand Prix.
Parallel with his sporting pursuits he studied law
at Dnepropetrovsk National University, and has
been studying management at the Moscow
Institute of Economy and Culture. Bogdan has
performed single and pairs, ensemble and lead
roles in ice shows, and has spent the last three
years with Circus on Ice performing many
innovative routines, complete with polar bears on
skates! His hobbies include football, billiards,
tennis, and computer games.
Elena Bogospassaeva
At the age of seven, Elena Bogosposaeva was taken by her father to a figure skating school and it was here that she fell in love with Ice Skating. At the age of 12, she began to skate in sports pairs and, with her partner, took part in many international skating competitions.
She joined the Russian Ice Stars in 2001 and took part in the UK and European tours of Barnum on Ice and Nutcracker on Ice. She
performed during the Nutcracker on Ice
Australian and New Zealand tour in 2003.
In 2004 she joined the Imperial Ice Stars, touring Worldwide in Sleeping Beauty on Ice. She is currently studying at the Institute of Physical Education in St. Petersburg.
1997 Skate Israel 1st
1998 Trophy of Hungary (ISU Grand Prix) 1st
1998 Ukrainian Grand Prix 2nd
1996 Cup of Russia 3rd
1997 Cup of Russia 2nd
1998 Cup of Russia 3rd
Yevgen But
Yevgen was born in Dnepropetrovsk in 1973 and started to train in figure-skating when he was 5 years old. At 10 he moved to ice dancing under the coaches I. Chubarez and S. Shklyar together with N. Zelenskaya and Tatyana Navka.
From 1993 to 1996 Yevgen has been working in
Igor Bobrin’s Ice Theatre shows and later worked
in the English production of Phantom of the
Opera on Ice, directed by Tony Mercer. Since 1998 Yevgen has
been working with the international tour of Holiday on Ice and
is very excited to have joined The Imperial Ice Stars in 2008 and
work with Tony again.
Yevgen enjoys cinema, travelling, computer games and design.
Nataliia Karpych
Nataliia was born in Odessa and began to skate
when she was 6 years old. At 9 she became an
ice dancer under the supervision of her trainer
A. B. Tushanovskiy. In 1992 she finished her
amateur career and began her show career with
Ballet on Ice in Kiev in 1994. From 1996 till 2008
she has performed in the international tour of
Holiday on Ice.
Nataliia confesses that she can’t live without travelling. She is
fond of home design, sewing and knitting.
Irina Koretska
Irina was born in Kiev and began her career as a gymnast, training from the early age of four. For two years, Irina focused on her gymnastics before moving on to acrobatics, achieving a Master of Sport in this field in Kiev. It was at this point, Irina decided to focus on a new challenge of professional ice skating, combining this skill with her acrobatics.
In spring 2008, Irina won third place in an
acrobatics championship in Kiev and toured
Moscow with a professional ice show.
Having joined The Imperial Ice Stars for their UK
tour in November 2008, Irina is very excited to
be travelling outside of her country for the first
time.
Irina loves dogs and reading.
Alexander Lelikov
Born in 1983, Alexander started skating at the age of 4 coached by Filipov. Among Alexander’s skating achievements, he won first place in the French Junior Championships in 2000 and still remains in the French National Team.
Alexander has many hobbies, including kickboxing and Judo.
Anna Lopatochkina
Anna was born in 1988 and started training
when she was 4. Under her first coach, M. I.
Zaharova she became a member of the Russian
National Women’s Figure-Skating Team where
she won many competitions in Russia. In 2004
Anna finished her amateur career and went to
St Petersburg where she joined The State Ballet
on Ice and performed in numerous shows.
Always active, Anna’s passions are her family and friends.
Alexei Menshikov
Alexei was born in 1984 in Perm and started
skating when he was five years old. His coach
was Patlasova Ekaterina. Until the age of 13
Alexei was a single skater and then began
skating in pairs under coach Elena Efaeva.
Alexei is an International Master of Sport. In
2004 he took first place at the Juniors
Championships of Russia. In 2007 he was the
bronze medalist at the Championships of Russia
and came 6th in the European Championships.
Alexei’s hobbies are reading historical books and playing football.
Svetlana Nalimova
Born in Ekaterinburg, Svetlana Nalimova started skating at the age of five. Her first steps on the ice were taken with her mum. In 1984 Svetlana won The Cup of Russia and was also a member of National Team of Russia, competing and being the medal winner in many international competitions. Svetlana enjoys photography and choreography.
Ruslan Novoseltev
Born in 1974, Ruslan started skating at the age of 4 and is now in his tenth year of professional skater in theatre shows.
Ruslan is an International Master of Sport and a professional figure skating coach.
Now living in the UK, Ruslan resides with his wife and 2 children and his spare time is based around his family.
Yulia Odintsova 
Yulia was born in St. Petersburg in 1982 and began skating at the age of four, coached by her father. At the age of 14 she moved to England and began skating in pairs and continued to compete internationally for many years. Following her competitive career Yulia joined the St Petersburg Ballet on Ice company. In 2005, she graduated from the Academy of Physical Education in St. Petersburg.
Yulia has a young son Danila, and in her spare time enjoys theatre and music.
Vadzim Pilakhanau 
Vadzim was born in Minsk in 1984 and started skating when he was 4 years old. In 2002, Vadzim started skating as a pair, coached at the Tatiana Tarasova school and went on to win many prizes and International Championships. From 2006, he became a coach in Minsk
In his spare time, Vadzim enjoys cars and computers.
Viktoria Polzykina
Born in the Ukraine, Viktoriia started skating at the age of 4 with her first coach, Rogin Vika.
Viktoriia has won many competitions in skating, including second place in the Junior Olympic games in 1999, second in the 2000 and 2001 Junior World Championships and second place at the Grand Prix Championships in 2001.
Viktoriia’s hobbies include yoga, music and reading.
Olena Riabchuk
Olena was born in 1985 in Kiev and at the ageof three began skating, and one year later was
accepted into the Sporting Child's Youth School
of Olympic Reserve where she took part in many
competitions. In 1998 she was invited to join the
Moscow school of figure-skating at the Central
Army Sporting Club, where she completed her
Masters of Sport and Masters of Sport
International in pairs skating. Olena participated
in many competitions including the Junior Russian
Championship and the Junior World Cup both of
which she won. In 2005 she went on to university
and is currently coaching and developing figure
skating courses at the Sporting Child's Youth
School of Olympic Reserve.
Yuri Salmanov 
Yuri was born in Riga in 1980 and started figure
skating at the age of five. At 15 he began pairs
skating with Olga Boguslavska. In 1996 they
participated in the Junior World Championships
and went on to compete at the European and
World Championships that same year. He then
skated for several years with partner Tatjana
Zaharjeva before joining up with Elena
Sirokhvatova with whom he finished his career as
a figure skater in 2003. In total Yuri participated
in five European and World Championships. In
2003 he began his career as a coach in Riga.
Marina Varankina
Marina was born in Pervouralsk in 1986 and
since the age of 5 has been trained by her coach
N. A. Serebrennikova. When she was 15 years old
Marina joined the Synchronistic Skating Team
and together with her team partners
participated in the Russian Championships and
international competitions. In 2006 they won
the bronze medal at the Championship of
Russia.
Her hobbies include sport and travelling. She also loves relaxing.
Stanislav Voytuk 
Stanislav was born in Norilsk in the far north of
Russia and began skating at the age of eight,
completing a Master of Sport. At the age of 18
he finished his competitive career and joined the
Moscow State Ballet on Ice as a lead principal
where he performed for 15 years specialising as
a feature artist. In 1991 he was invited by the
coach Tatiana Tarasova to join her show and in
1994 he joined The Russian Ice Stars performing
in The Sleeping Beauty on Ice, Cinderella on Ice,
Phantom of the Opera on Ice, Peter Pan on Ice
and The Nutcracker on Ice.
In 2003 Stanislav started his career as a
choreographer, working with the National Team
of Russia on programs and exhibition numbers
for World Champions Maria Petrova and
Alexey Tikhonov; twice professional World
Champions Elena Leonova and Andrey Khvalko;
and seven-time European Champion, twice World
Champion and dual Olympic medalist
Irina Slutskaya.