Founder | Vasile Petrutiu

Born in Transylvania, Romania, Mr. Petrutiu graduated at the top of his class with the highest degree in the field of dance from the Romanian Academy of Fine Arts. Following graduation, he immediately joined the Romanian National Opera and Ballet in Bucharest and later accepted an invitation to join The Classical and Contemporary Ballet of Romania as principal dancer and toured extensively throughout Europe, Canada and the United States. In 1982 he defected while on tour in USA. In 1984 Mr. Petrutiu established his residency in the United States and later got his US citizenship. His distinguished career includes the title of principal dancer with noted companies Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Cleveland-San Jose Ballet, Dallas Ballet, Tulsa Ballet Theatre, Nevada Dance Theatre, Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Alberta Ballet, and encompasses an extensive repertoire of leading roles in classical ballets and contemporary pieces. Mr. Petrutiu has also acted as artistic director, master teacher, school director, and choreographer for several companies, most recently Southern Ballet Theater (SBT), now Orlando Ballet. Under his direction SBT successfully eliminated its trailing deficit of over 400K, tripled season subscriptions, and earned a surplus of 125K by his third year of leadership. In 2000, Mr. Petrutiu founded and incorporated The Ballet Academy of Central Florida and the Central Florida Ballet (CFB), guiding the two organizations to great success. The Academy reached an enrollment of over 300 students in just four months and in 2003, Mr. Petrutiu’s Nutcracker production received international recognition being featured in USA Today and CNN Headline News as “one of the five outstanding productions in the nation”. In 2007, Central Florida Ballet was recognized for its original production of “9/11 An American Moment” by The House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. as ”the only company in the nation to have created a ballet on 9/11 this fateful day in American history”. In 2007, Mr. Petrutiu inaugurated the World Ballet Competition, which became the first ballet competition to be entirely broadcast on the internet. The WBC has since generated more than 30 million internet views worldwide and has been featured in numerous magazines internationally, including multiple page layouts in Dance for You Magazine (based in Europe) and Danca Brasil Magazine (based in South America). Mr. Petrutiu is excited to continue working with professional dancers and students throughout the world as well as to bring quality in dance to Central Florida and abroad.

Executive Director | Kailey Klopfenstein

Kailey Klopfenstein brings over 18 years of experience in non-profit dance management, with expertise in marketing, ticketing, grant writing, fundraising, finance, and large-scale event planning. She began working with the World Ballet Competition (WBC) and Central Florida Ballet in 2007 and appointed Executive Director in 2024.

During her tenure at Central Florida Ballet and the World Ballet Competition, she has secured over $2.5 million in grant funding, expanded free educational outreach performances to over 3,200 students annually, and led marketing campaigns resulting in record-breaking ticket sales, including consecutive sellouts at the 2,643-seat Linda Chapin Theater. Ms. Klopfenstein has managed participant registration for all 18 editions of the WBC Finals in Orlando and served as event manager for seven international WBC OPEN events in Romania and Brazil. In addition, she created the WBC’s social media channels and continues to lead WBC’s social media strategy, expanding its annual reach to over 15 million. She manages all marketing efforts, recently re-designed the WBC website, and played a key role in upgrading the competitor registration system. Since 2023, she has also overseen ticketing operations for the WBC.

A former professional dancer, she performed many featured roles including Snow Queen, Maria (Clara), Shepherdess Doll, and Spanish Lead in The Nutcracker, Pas de Deux in 9/11 An American Moment, and Pas de Trois in Paquita; partnered by Eddy Tovar, Etienne Diaz, and Bogdan Plopeanu to name a few. She holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Central Florida, graduating magna cum laude. Her accolades include a full scholarship to Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre at the World Ballet Competition, a full scholarship to Atlanta Ballet at the American Dance Competition, and an Individual Artist Grant from United Arts of Central Florida.

Artistic Director | Vladmir Bykov

Mr. Bykov graduated from the Kiev State Ballet Academy (Ukraine) in 1988 and joined the Malyi Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Kiev as a principal dancer. In 1995, he received a Master's Degree from the Kiev National Institute of the Arts. Vladimir has performed in leading roles including The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Harlequinade, Romeo and Juliet, and the Rite of Spring. Vladimir toured throughout Europe and came to the U.S. in 1996 where he danced with El Paso Ballet, New Mexico Ballet, Albuquerque and Dallas Metropolitan Ballet. He has been a ballet instructor at the University of Texas and was awarded Outstanding Male Newcomer by the El Paso Association for the Performing Arts in 1998. Before joining Central Florida Ballet as Ballet master, Mr. Bykov danced with Southern Ballet Theatre (now Orlando Ballet) and also served as a teacher and coach for the company. In year 2004 Mr. Bykov was appointed and accepted the Artistic Director’s position with Central Florida Ballet. In 2007, Mr. Bykov accepted the Artistic Director position with the World Ballet Competition.

Our Team