During World War II his family was forced to live in underground bunkers because of the occupation by the German army.
Yuresha made his professional debut as a first guest artist with the newly formed Irish Theatre Ballet in Dublin.
He danced in the BBC Eurovision production of Sleeping Beauty with the legendary prima ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn starring in the title role on 20 December 1959.
He worked with some of the top choreographers and directors of the era, including Sir Frederick Ashton, Vladimir Bourmeister, Serge Lifar, Leonid Massine, and Bronislava Nijinska.
Massine chose Yuresha for the lead role in Le Bal des Voleurs (Thieves' Carnival) at Covent Garden in 1963, where he partnered with Carla Fracci.
Other important roles included Signor Midas in John Cranko’s The Lady and the Fool, Albrecht in Giselle, and the prince in Sleeping Beauty, which he danced with Belinda Wright.
In 1971 he worked with Nijinska in her production of Les Noces (The Wedding) the final time the remarkable ballet was personally directed by her.
For ten years they traveled the world under the auspices of the British Council, performing in grand theaters of cosmopolitan cities and humble venues in developing nations.
Yuresha and Wright presented dances from Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and Don Quixote.
Upon Dolin’s death, the couple inherited the rights to his choreography of Giselle, Pas de Quatre, and his acclaimed original ballet, Variations for Four.
He has since staged it at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the Tetsuya Kumakawa Ballet in Japan, and at schools in Europe and the United States.
In October 2016 he choreographed the piece in Moscow at the Grand Kremlin Palace gala for the “Stars of Ballet in the 21st Century.” Yuresha began teaching in 1977 as a guest teacher at master classes in London.
His choreography career has taken him to Austria, China, and New Zealand where he has staged Pas de Sylph, La Peri, and Giselle.
The papers of Jelko Yuresha and Belinda Wright were donated to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library in 2007.