Madeleine Coles

Life Editor

ISU instructor Sergiu Brindusa has a long and rich history with the art of ballet. Originally from eastern Romania, Brindusa came to the United States when he was 14 to attend the Kirov Academy of Ballet on an artistic scholarship.

“I’ve known since I was very little that I was going to be a ballet dancer. I was properly trained by one of the top schools in the world only because it was predestined for me by my dad,” said Brindusa, whose father was a famous ballet dancer in Romania. 

“I have had opportunities to travel and see the world. I’ve had opportunities to work in many countries, but I really fought hard to stay in the United States and establish myself here,” Brindusa said.

And indeed, Brindusa has become well-established in the community through his work at ISU and the dance studio he established with his wife, Beth Moore.

He began teaching at ISU in the fall of 2006 as an adjunct professor.

He taught for many years before taking some time off, and returned in 2015 as a full-time instructor. Brindusa said he has pushed to grow ballet at ISU and would like to see it grow even further.

“I think we’ve come a long way here with ballet,” he said. “But that was because of my push. I was offered a full-time position here at ISU, so I can cultivate more awareness and opportunity for ballet to grow.”

And while Brindusa noted that he is multilateral in any subject, especially dance, he has an obvious fondness for ballet, which is why he has worked so hard to incorporate it into both ISU’s curriculum and the Pocatello community.

“I’m very grateful for the fact that we were able to establish ourselves in the community and find a home for us and also find a proper way of passing along the gift of dance in the best way we can,” he said. “We’ve had enormous success here with ballet. We’ve put on so many beautiful productions.”

And when it comes to the dance program at ISU, Brindusa said he sees nothing but growth in its future.

“There’s a lot of potential,” he said. “I think that’s what attracts me the most about this program. It helps me focus on the bigger picture, which is that this university can have the students and the level they’re desiring. But it’s not going to happen overnight.”

Brindusa added that he would love to see the university expand in ballet in particular, saying he would like to add more advanced classes and perhaps one day establish a university ballet company. 

“One of the reasons why Beth and I were asked to come here was to fulfill the dreams of this university,” he said. “And we’re doing the best we can.”

Brindusa noted it would be a long and difficult task to establish ISU as a competitive ballet university, but for now, he hopes it can be a stepping stone.

“With my help and my wife’s help to cultivate ballet here, we have produced some beautiful dancers who deserve to go to a university, and the dream is to have a good mechanism in place for people to feed into the university with proper training so they can do more and continue,” he said. “That’s the idea behind it. Obviously we’re not there at the moment, but the worst thing you can do is give up on ideas.”

He added that currently the university is trying to find where the best place for everyone is.

“I’ve seen many people come through here,” Brindusa said, “And I think they left better off than they came in.”