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Background

Ania Nikulina is a research assistant professor and a lecturer in the Theatre Department at ������ɫ. Her work explores state-sponsored ballet as a place where cultural projects and government politics meet, often in moments of tension and transition. She focuses especially on the history of ballet performances and dance training in post-Soviet theaters and schools. 

Her current book project, Dynamic Borders: Ukrainian Ballet in Transition, examines how ballet communities in Ukraine both change and respond to shifting political structures. This work is particularly significant in the current context of the Russian–Ukrainian war, where cultural institutions and schools face instability and underfunding yet continue to show resilience, creativity and determination in keeping artistic life alive.

Prior to completing the PhD program at UC Riverside, Nikulina earned her master’s degree in Performance Studies from Texas A&M University, focusing on the relationships between state-sponsored dance, artistic protest and political processes. 

Nikulina is a former recipient of the Mellon CLIR Fellowship for Dissertation Research in Original Sources, the UC Riverside Dean’s Fellowship, the CIS Humanities Graduate Student Research Grant, the UC Riverside Dissertation Research Grant, UC Riverside Alumni Graduate Research Travel Award and the UC Riverside Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship Award. She has diverse dance training in ballet, modern and jazz dance; her additional interests include ballet ethnography, oral narratives and interviews as off-stage performances. 

Invited Talks

• November 2023: “Questions of National Identity in Ukrainian Ballet Productions,” ������ɫ, REEP Program Seminar Series.
• October 2023: “Coding National Identity in Ukrainian Ballet Librettos of the 1930s,” Columbia University, Seminars in Dance Program.

Recent Publications

• Nikulina, Ania. “Ballet in Ukraine: From Uncertainty to Defiance and Independence,” Dance Research Journal, April 2023, Cambridge University Press.
• Nikulina. Ania. "Navigating Endangered Archives during a Time of Global Instability," Adventure, Inquiry, Discovery: CLIR-Mellon Fellows and the Archives, May 2022, edited by Y. Dong, J. Konova, S. LeJacq, A. Nikulina, D. Oliva, and N. Pitamber (Council on Library and Information Resources, 2023).
• Nikulina, Ania, Seth Le Jacq, and Diane Oliva. “Conclusion,” Adventure, Inquiry, Discovery: CLIR-Mellon Fellows and the Archives, May 2022, edited by Y. Dong, J. Konova, S. LeJacq, A. Nikulina, D. Oliva, and N. Pitamber (Alexandria, VA: Council on Library and Information Resources, 2023).
• Nikulina, Ania. “Ukrainian Librettos: (De)Stabilizing Nationalism through Ballet Texts and the Female Dancing Body,” Adventure, Inquiry, Discovery: CLIR-Mellon Fellows and the Archives, May 2022, edited by Y. Dong, J. Konova, S. LeJacq, A. Nikulina, D. Oliva, and N. Pitamber (Council on Library and Information Resources, 2023).
• Nikulina, Ania. “Maya Plisetskaya’s The Carmen-Suite: Discovering a Hidden Repertoire,” Theatre Journal, Vol. 71, Number 2, June (2019): 191-209.
• Nikulina, Ania. "Post-Soviet Primas: Challenging Archive and Repertoire," PARtake: The Journal of Performance as Research, Vol. 2, Issue 2, Feb (2019): 1-19.
• Nikulina, Ania. “Noize MC: Mediatized Political Protest in Contemporary Russia.” Proceedings of the American Musicological Society Southwest Chapter (2014)

Education

• PhD, Critical Dance Studies, University of California, Riverside
• MA, Performance Studies, Texas A&M University

Research Interests

• State-sponsored dance
• Artistic protest and censorship
• Dance and Archives
• Dance Ethnography
• Cultural Diplomacy

Awards

• 2024: Individual Development Award (IDA), ������ɫ

• 2022-2023: Council on Library and Information Resources Editor Award, “Special Issue: Current State of the Archive” (Spring 2023)
• 2022: Mellon Foundation Council on Library and Information Resources Travel Grant
• 2021-2022: Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP) Charles E. Scheidt Faculty Research Fellowship 
• 2021-22: Charles E. Scheidt Faculty Fellow
• 2019-2020: UC Riverside Dean’s Fellowship
• 2018-2019: Mellon CLIR Fellowship for Dissertation Research in Original Sources
• 2018: UC Riverside Alumni Graduate Research Travel award
• 2018: UC Riverside Dissertation Research Grant
• 2018: CIS Humanities Graduate Student Research Award
• 2014-2018: UC Riverside Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship Award
• 2014: Vida Chenoweth Student Paper Prize, Society for Ethnomusicology Southern Plains

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