Category Archive for : ‘DANCE TEACHER’

May 11, 2021
ABC News

LONDON — A former English National Ballet principal dancer was convicted Tuesday of sexually assaulting young female dance students.
Yat-Sen Chang, 49, was found guilty of 12 counts of sexual assault and one count of “assault by penetration.” The offenses took place at the English National Ballet and Young Dancers Academy in London from 2009 to 2016, and relate to four teens who were between 16 and 18 years old at the time.
The victims accused Chang of touching them inappropriately during massages at the schools. During the trial,

October 19, 2019
Annie Sciacca
Mercury News

He was a renowned ballet teacher who danced in Russia before performing for Diablo Ballet in Walnut Creek — an instructor who many young girls believed could help them fulfill their dreams of becoming professional ballet dancers.
But next week, 56-year-old Viktor Kabaniaev could find himself facing a long prison term instead of a dance stage or studio if a jury convicts him of 14 counts of molesting and raping two young former students.
Prosecution and defense attorneys presented their closing arguments Friday in the two-week trial against

September 25, 2019
Joshua Rhett Miller
NY Post

A dance teacher in Florida who was found guilty of molesting a 15-year-old female student has been sentenced to 26 years in prison, prosecutors said.

Lauren Debenedetta, 41, was sentenced Monday after a jury found her guilty in July of four counts of lewd or lascivious molestation and other counts for sex acts with the girl three years ago in Charlotte County and Sarasota, according to State Attorney Amira Fox.

Debenedetta will also have to serve five years’ of sex offender probation after being released from prison and