Dancer killed in hit-run had just left performance

BULGARIAN ballerina Polina Kadiyska had just finished dancing in a side job when she was struck down by a hit-and-run vehicle on South Broad Street earlier this week.

The 22-year-old, a student at the Rock School for Dance Education in South Philly, was elated that her performance at a bar had gone well, a friend said Wednesday.

So she called her boyfriend, Nick, to let him know while she waited in a Chinese takeout for food, said the friend, who did not want her name published.

After she left the restaurant, at Broad and Ellsworth streets, about 4 a.m. Sunday, a 1999 Audi A4 driven by Deandre Barnes, 19, blew through a red light and hit her, cops have said.

She died Tuesday at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

Police said Wednesday that Barnes, of McKean Street near 7th, is expected to be charged with homicide by vehicle.

Kadiyska, a lithe, talented and promising third-year ballet student, worked with Jewelz Entertainment to earn cash.

Jewelz owner Julie Abramson said Wednesday that Kadiyska was working last weekend, but not at a Jewelz event. She said Kadiyska started working for Jewelz about two weeks ago - "dancing at nightclubs, not like a stripper."

Abramson said she last saw Kadiyska about 3 a.m. Sunday. Abramson, 25, celebrated her bachelorette party Saturday night, but would not say if Kadiyska had been there.

Kadiyska's parents, in Philadelphia since Tuesday, are trying to take her body to Bulgaria.

Donations can be made by calling the Euro Market in Broomall at 610-359-9021 and asking for Valeria Gospodinov.