Noemi Araxi Kelejian

Noemi Araxi Kelejian is an Armenian-American ballet and ice-skating choreographer, master teacher and former Principal Dancer with the Armenian National Ballet. Identified at a young age for her talent and passion for dance, Noemi was invited to attend the National Choreographic Ballet College of Armenia in Yerevan. Upon graduation, Noemi joined the National Opera and Ballet Theater of Armenia (formerly the U.S.S.R. Opera and Ballet Theater of Armenia), and rapidly advanced to become one of its principal dancers. Her choreographers and teachers include her greatest mentor Maxim Martirosyan, along with the legendary Dudinskaya and with many others. During her tenure as Principal Dancer Noemi performed in countries throughout the former Soviet Union. She danced at the Bolshoi and Mariinsky (formerly Kirov) Theaters where she was presented with the prestigious “GRAMMATA AWARD,” in 1976. She later toured internationally.

In the 1980s, Noemi moved to San Francisco and joined the faculty of SF Ballet, where she taught for eight years. She has also taught and choreographed throughout the Bay Area’s foremost ballet schools and companies. With her growing popularity as both a nurturing teacher and talented choreographer Noemi became highly sought aner in the ska6ng world. Her 32-year legacy teaching and choreographing for ice-skaters con6nues to this day. Among her many ice-ska6ng students, Noemi taught and choreographed for World Junior Champion Derrick Delmore in the 5 years leading up to his 1998 6tle, which he received performing her choreography. In 2003, Noemi founded ARAX Dance. As the group’s Ar6s6c Director and Choreographer she began developing a unique storytelling approach to cultural dance that instantly set her company apart. Noemi’s future projects, dedicated to Armenia, are currently in development. https://medium.com/aj-story-behind-the-story/dancing-out-of-the-ashes-d01a9abd1e48