Founder and Artistic Director A finalist in Massachusetts Cultural Council’s 2008 statewide choreography competition H. Pinar Zengingonul was born in Antalya, Turkey where she started studying dancing at the age of 5 at the town’s only ballet school. Although her first formal training was with classical form of dancing, not long after she was introduced to Turkish folk dancing by her older sister. After she moved to United States to pursue a Ph.D. degree she continued studying ballet, modern dance and ballroom dancing. At the University of Illinois she was the choreographer and the director of Turkish Folk Dance Club. Upon completion of her Ph.D. studies at the University of Illinois, she moved to Boston where she joined Collage Dance Ensemble. She was part of the ensemble as a dancer, assistant director and manager for five years until she founded Mavi Dance. She has studied different styles such as Irish with Kieran Jordan, Flamenco with Ramon de los Reyes, Clara Ramona, Russian Dance with Ksusha Melyukhina, Ukrainian Dance with Regina Hancher, Israeli dancing with Sheila Skitnevsky-Finger and American Social Dance with Richard Powers. In fall 2002 Ms. Zengingonul founded MAVI DANCE. In spring of 2005 her work was commissioned by World Music/Crash Arts to be presented in “Dance Straight Up” dance performance series. She currently choreographs for Boston International Dance Learning Group and Boston Chinese Dance Group in addition to Mavi Dance.

A native of the Republic of Georgia, started dance training at the Georgian State Choreographic School of Sukhisvili-Ramishvili, from which he graduated with great honors in 1987. By age ten, he became a solo dancer of the Tsaktubo national Ensemble and made stage appearances all around Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia and Lithuania.

Avtandil won the Gold Medal at the prestigious Kremlin Folk Dance Competition in 1989 (Moscow). In 1996, Avtandil joined the KUTAISI National Dance troupe and soon was promoted to Soloist, touring Greece, France, Turkey and Israel. From 1998-2004, Avtandil was a principal dancer with the National Ensemble MAMULI with whole he toured extensively around the world. In 1999, together with the lead choreographer of MAMULI, Zaur Papiashvili, established a children's dance studio where he served as rehearsal director while the children toured in Italy, Greece, and Turkey.

His unique artistic talent and superlative performing skills were noted by dance authorities and he was invited to join the Georgian National Ballet Sukhishvili, known for the world's greatest dancers. Avtandil was recognized as one of the the company's most talented and creative solo dancers, whose innovations were elaborated in his marvelous, artistic solos. He received rave reviews for his solo performances in many countries. During his years with this company, he had over 100 performances around the world and in 30 states of the USA.

From 2004-2007, Avtandil held the lead choreographer position in the Georgian State Children's Ensemble LASHQARI. He received numerous awards as a recognized solo dancer and choreographer by the State of Georgia.

Bala started dancing in Baku Azerbaijan when he was six.During his school years, he accompanied his dance training with Chinese Martial Arts for twelve years. His quick and nimble moves earned him many prizes. While attending college in Bulgaria, he represented Azerbaijan in numerous festivals and events. After moving to United States to continue his studies, Bala joined Mavi Dance in 2008.

My dance history is very short compared to the rest of the Dancers at Mavi Dance. After many years of work and study cycle, joining Mavi Dance opened a new page and dimension to my life. I always wanted to dance but never had the time or opportunity and the feeling of being too late to start dancing. Since I joined Mavi Dance I feel so good! It is a good feeling that nothing is too late in life if you want to do it. I am working in a company as Human Resources professional. I am married to a musician and have a two year old daughter.