Irina Borovkova is a dance artist, choreographer, educator and arts manager with 14+ years’ experience across stage practice and education. She trained in choreography, theatre directing and philosophy, earning a Master of Philosophy from Samara National Research University, Bachelor’s degrees in Drama Theatre Directing and Choreographic Group Leading from the Samara State Institute of Culture, and a Dance Teacher diploma from the Saratov College of Arts (Russia). She has also participated in international dance and theatre workshops and festivals, studying with masters from around the world including Katsura Kan, Francisco Córdova, Wayne McGregor, Anna Ozerskaya, Tatiana and Elizaveta Tarabanova, Bruno Caverna, Narendra Patil, Marion Sparber, Zebastian Mente Maligna, Pavel Samokhvalov, among others.

As a choreographer and solo artist, Irina has received multiple international awards. Her works — including “Non-migratory”, “Satellite”, “A Tale of Time” and “Xenia” — have been presented across Russia and internationally.

Her career spans performing, teaching, and directing the Contemporary Dance Theatre “Colosseum” (2010–2018), collaborations with professional drama theatres as an artist, director and choreographer, resident-choreographer roles with several troupe, and jury service at dance festivals. She has taught dance, acting and stage movement at the Samara College of Culture and Arts and the Samara State Institute of Culture (2019-2022). Over the past three years, Irina has developed a contemporary dance studio in Armenia and created online programmes for students worldwide — from beginners to professionals in dance/theory, physical practice and theatre.

Rooted in physical theatre and sensuous improvisation, her work explores the breadth of human experience through embodied imagery. As a teacher, she foregrounds process, care and freedom, helping each student grow while preserving individuality. Her current focus is to share a stage with Emergence while pursuing the MA programme at the University of Salford, as a step towards her dream of founding her own physical theatre company and continuing academic teaching.

Photo credit: Josh Hawkins