Kostenko was born on June 11, 1903, near the city of Kiev,[1] Russian Empire (an area that is today part of Ukraine).

[3] In February 1940, Kostenko married ballerina Maria Dmitrievna Korjinska (1912–1994),[4] a native Muscovite of Yugoslavian descent,[5] while the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo was touring the American West Coast.

[7] Kostenko continued to play the part of Dream Jud on Broadway for the following six years before reprising the role in London and later in touring productions across America.

[10] In the early 1950s, Kostenko became the director of the San Francisco Studio of Ballet Art, located in the city’s Castro district, where he influenced a number of future performers.

Kostenko spent the rest of his life living in the San Francisco Bay Area, becoming an American citizen in 1952 and performing demonstration ballet shows at a various civic functions.