Simona Noja-Nebyla, daughter of the writer Ion Noja, is a Romanian-born ballet artist, educator, and dance researcher living in Austria and Romania. Before dedicating herself to dance, she trained with the Romanian Olympic gymnastics team under the legendary coach Béla Károlyi. She studied ballet at the Choreography High School in Cluj and earned a degree in Romanian-English from Babeș-Bolyai University.

Her career as a principal dancer included the Romanian State Opera Cluj, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and the Vienna State Opera. As a guest artist, she appeared with leading ensembles such as Bolshoi Theatre, Finnish National Ballet, Frankfurt Ballet, Kungliga Teatern (Royal Swedish Ballet), La Scala in Milan, Semperoper Dresden, Stuttgart Ballet, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, and Zagreb National Ballet.

In 2002 she founded the Cultural Foundation “Simona Noja,” and in 2006, co-founded the Dancearts studio in Vienna with Boris Nebyla. From 2010 to 2020 she held leadership roles at the Vienna State Opera Ballet Academy, transforming the ballet school into today’s Balletakademie and establishing its first Jugendkompanie, while mentoring future generations of dancers.
In 2017 she also initiated the Viennese international ballet competition, European Ballet Grand Prix, further contributing to the global dance community.

She is frequently invited to serve as a jury member at international ballet competitions, teaches masterclasses worldwide, and holds conferences highlighting dance as a valuable path to embodied knowledge for both professional and personal development.
In 2023, she earned a PhD in Performing Arts with her dissertation “Ballet Academic Educational Model”, further expanding her academic contribution to the field. She is currently engaged in higher academic education, sharing her expertise with the next generation of professionals.

Her achievements have been recognized with Romania’s Order of the Star (Officer) and Austria’s Honor Cross for Science and Art First Class.