Contemporary, Partnering

Born in Kemerovo, Russia, Ilya Nikurov is a movement artist and award-winning choreographer based in California, USA. He began his dance journey with ballroom at the age of seven and later expanded his training in modern and contemporary dance at various schools across Russia. In 2005, he was honored by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation for his self-choreographed solo performance. During his time in Russia, Ilya danced with the folk company Siberian Kaleidoscope, worked as a principal dancer with Boroditsky Dennis Dance Company, performed with The Great Moscow Circus and appeared in several musical theater productions, including "Romeo and Juliet" and "Notre Dame de Paris". In 2012, he collaborated with Belgian choreographer Ann Van den Broek, performing in her work "Kamera" in Russia and touring to The Hague, Netherlands.

In 2014, Ilya joined Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company in Israel, where he spent nine seasons performing and contributing to the creation of new works under Artistic Director Rami Be’er. During this time, he also worked with Israeli choreographer Eyal Dadon and participated in Oxygen, a performance-installation by choreographer Lea Bessoudo-Greck and visual artist Roee Derstin. In recognition of his contributions to contemporary dance in Israel, Ilya was awarded the Yair Shapira Prize in 2018.

Since 2021, Ilya has served as choreographer and co-director of Outrun The Bear, a collaborative dance project he founded with his partner, Megan Doheny. Their work has been commissioned by several national and international dance companies, including the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company (South Korea), the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company (Israel), Open Space Dance Company (Portland, Oregon), and Crush on Trash Foundation (Poland).From 2021- present, Ilya is a choreographer and co-director of the collaborative dance project, ‘Outrun The Bear’, together with his partner Megan Doheny.