Mariana Gatto-Duran

Mariana Gatto-Duran is a dynamic and versatile Bulgarian-born dancer based in the Washington D.C. area since 2001. As the adopted child of a Spanish mother who loved the arts and was also a dancer, Mariana’s passion for music and dance was nurtured from a very young age. With over fifteen years of training in Russian ballet, she brings to the stage and the studio a unique and emotive spirit that is equally informed by her  life-long study of flamenco. Mariana has studied and been invited to perform flamenco throughout the United States and Spain, and enjoys dancing regularly at Spanish restaurants and bodegas across the D.C. area.

A proud alumna of CityDance Conservatory and the Kirov Academy of Ballet, Mariana has studied ballet with Ludmilla Morkovina, Anatoli Kucheruck, Andrea Long, and Stanislav Issaev, and received coaching from Dawei Zhang, Bat Udval, Vladimir Djouloukhadze, and Fabrice Herrault. She has attended summer training at the Sarasota Cuban Ballet, Ellison Ballet, Victor Ullate Ballet, and at  American Ballet Theater as a National Scholar. In 2016, she received the Grand Prix Award as well as the “Best Musicality” Special Award at the Vienna International Ballet Experience (VIBE), and in 2018 won the Grand Prix Award at the Balanchine International Festival in Kutaisi, Georgia. 

A caring and dedicated teacher fluent in both Spanish and English, Mariana sees ballet first and foremost as a vehicle for expressing emotion through movement. Guided by this philosophy, she is devoted to assisting young dancers develop the technical skills necessary to pursue their own personal artistry.