👋 We Are Excited to Introduce You to BalletMet’s Newest Company Dancers for the 26/27 Season!
This year, BalletMet has a talented group of new dancers joining our 26/27 Company roster. A few familiar faces that you might recognize from last seasons second company, BalletMet 2, as well as some brand new faces that we cannot wait for you to meet at our shows coming up!
Mila DeCola
MILA DECOLA began her dance training at age four in BalletMet’s Academy program. At fifteen, she joined BalletMet’s Trainee program. As a trainee, Mila performed in multiple productions alongside the company. These included Gerald Charles’ The Nutcracker, Edwaard Liang’s Swan Lake, Alice, and Romeo and Juliet, and Remi Wortmeyer’s Sleeping Beauty. Mila also performed in several ballets by George Balanchine during her time in the Trainee program. She performed the principal role in Divertimento No. 15, Tarantella, the Second Violin in Concerto Barocco, and the demi-soloist role in Walpurgisnacht.
In 2025, Mila was promoted to BalletMet’s second company, where she performed with the main company in Remi Wortmeyer’s Rite of Spring and La Boheme, Juanjo Arqués’ Ignite, and Trey McIntyre’s Peter Pan. In shows with the second company she also performed various works by Remi Wortmeyer, the Black Swan pas de deux, and a gala performance of Tarantella.
Mila is deeply grateful for the opportunities BalletMet has given her and is excited to be joining BalletMet’s Professional Company for the 2026/27 season!
Arsentii Lazarev
ARSENTII LAZAREV was born in Siberia, Russia, and began dancing at seven in a folk ensemble. At ten, he entered the Novosibirsk State Choreographic College, earning scholarships from the Galina Ulanova and Svetlana Zakharova foundations and honors at the Ak-Kuu Competition, Vaganova-Prix, and other national contests.
After graduating, Lazarev joined the Bolshoi Theatre, then moved to Ural Opera Ballet in 2017, becoming Principal Dancer in 2019. His repertoire there included Siegfried (Swan Lake), Solor (La Bayadère), Basilio (Don Quixote), Albert (Giselle), and roles in Balanchine’s Walpurgisnacht Ballet and contemporary works by Andrey Kaidanovsky and Vyacheslav Samodurov. He earned two Golden Mask nominations for Best Male Role in Ballet (2020, 2022) and performed at festivals including Benois de la Danse, Dance Open, and Diaghilev P.S.
In 2023, he returned to the Bolshoi as a soloist, dancing in Marco Spada, Spartacus, and The Legend of Love, and has guested with Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre.
Since 2024, Lazarev has been a Principal Dancer with World Ballet Company internationally, performing Siegfried, the Prince in The Nutcracker, and Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby. He has worked with choreographers including Yuri Grigorovich, Pierre Lacotte, and Alexei Miroshnichenko.
26/27 will be his first season with BalletMet.
Sophie Mossa
Born in Cagliari, Sardinia, SOPHIE MOSSA grew up in a French-Italian family. She started dancing at the age of three at Insieme per la Danza, where she discovered her passion for ballet. In 2016, she moved to France to study at the École Nationale de Danse de Marseille.
Three years later, Sophie started her training at the European School of Ballet in Amsterdam directed by Jean-Yves Esquerre and Olivier Wecxsteen and received the Pierino Ambrosoli Foundation scholarship. During her four years at ESB, last one of which she was part of the Classical Trainee Program, Sophie had the opportunity to work with renowned teachers and ballet masters and to learn ballets by choreographers such as Béjart, Forsythe, Dawson, Bournonville, Ashton, Lopez Ochoa, Duato, Kylián and Montero. She also performed Eric Viudès’ Meyerbeer Pas de Deux at the Gala Marika Besobrasova.
In 2023, Sophie joined Tulsa Ballet’s second company under Marcello Angelini’s leadership and performed in ballets such as Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Derek Deane’s Strictly Gershwin, The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet, Three Musketeers, Ben Stevenson’s Dracula, Kenneth Tindall’s Alice in Wonderland and Casanova, Dani Rowe’s Marilyn.
BalletMet’s 2026-2027 season is Sophie’s first with the company.
YOU can see all of BalletMet’s newest dancers shine on stage in Columbus this season! Visit our performances page and find out which show (or shows 😉) you are going to see them in.