The Moscow State Academy of Choreography (russian: Московская государственная академия хореографии), commonly known as The Bolshoi Ballet Academy, is one of the oldest and most prestigious schools of ballet in the world, located in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, Russia. It is the affiliate school of the

Bolshoi Ballet The Bolshoi Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company based at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi is among the world's oldest ballet companies. In the early 20th century, it came to internatio ...

. The Bolshoi Ballet receives the majority of its dancers from the academy, as do most other Moscow ballet companies. Numerous choreographers, instructors and graduates of the academy have become renowned, including Olga Lepeshinskaya, Raisa Struchkova,

Natalia Bessmertnova Natalia Igorevna Bessmertnova (Russian: Наталья Игоревна Бессмертнова; – ) was a Soviet prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet and a People's Artist of the USSR (1976). Life Natalia Bessmertnova was born in Moscow ...

Ekaterina Maximova Ekaterina Sergeevna Maximova (russian: Екатерина Сергеевна Максимова; 1 February 1939 – 28 April 2009) was a Soviet and Russian ballerina of the second part of the 20th century who was internationally recognised. Sh ...

Maya Plisetskaya Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya (russian: link=no, Майя Михайловна Плисецкая; 20 November 1925 – 2 May 2015) was a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet director, and actress. In post-Soviet times, she he ...

Nikolai Fadeyechev Nikolai Borisovich Fadeyechev (russian: Николай Борисович Фадеечев, 27 January 1933 – 23 June 2020) was a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer and teacher. He was awarded People's Artist of the USSR in 1976. Biography Fad ...

, Vladimir Vasiliev,

Mikhail Lavrovsky Mikhail Leonidovich Lavrovsky (russian: Михаи́л Леони́дович Лавро́вский; born 29 October 1941) is a Russian former principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet. Biography Lavrovsky was born on 29 October 1941 in Tbilisi, Ge ...

, Nikolay Tsiskaridze, to be bestowed a

People's Artist of the USSR People's Artist of the USSR ( rus, Народный артист СССР, Narodny artist SSSR), also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union. Nomenclature and significan ...

, "

prima ballerina assoluta ''Prima ballerina assoluta'' is a title awarded to the most notable of female ballet dancers. To be recognised as a ''prima ballerina assoluta'' is a rare honour, traditionally reserved only for the most exceptional dancers of their generatio ...

" and "premier dancer", the ultimate title for a ballet performer of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. The academy was awarded the

Japanese Foreign Minister The is a member of the cabinet of Japan and is the leader and chief executive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The minister is responsible for implementing Japan’s foreign policy and is also a statutory member of the National Security Cou ...

’s Commendation for their contributions to promotion of cultural exchange through art between Japan and Russia on December 1, 2020.

History

Bolshoi is the oldest theatrical school in

, founded as an orphanage by order of

Catherine II , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anha ...

in 1763. It wasn't until 1773 that the first dance classes were taught at the home. Other names the school is known by are: The Bolshoi Academy, The Bolshoi Ballet School, The Moscow Choreographic Institute, The Moscow Ballet School, The Bolshoi Moscow Ballet School and The Bolshoi Theatre Ballet School. Heads:The Moscow State Academy of Choreography
* 1773—1777 — Filippo Beccari * 1778—1783 — Leopold Paradise * 1783—1805 — Cosimo Morelli (choreographer) * 1806—1808 — Jean Lamiral * 1808—1811 — Dominique Lefèvre * 1811—1839 — Adam Glushkovskiy * 1839—1846 — Konstantin Bordanov (ru: Богданов, Константин Федорович) * 1846—1850 — Feodor Manokhin (ru: Манохин, Фёдор Николаевич) * 1851—1857 — ? * 1858—1869 — Feodor Manokhin (ru: Манохин, Фёдор Николаевич) * 1869—1872 —

Pierre Frédéric Malavergne Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

* 1872—1874 — Gustave Legat * 1874—1883 — Sergey Petrovich Sokolov (ru: Соколов, Сергей Петрович) * 1883—1898 — Aleksey Bogdanov (ru: Богданов, Алексей Николаевич) * 1898—1902 — Vasiliy Geltser (ru: Гельцер, Василий Федорович) * 1902—1907 —

Alexander Alexeyevich Gorsky Alexander Gorsky (August 6, 1871 – 1924), a Russian ballet choreographer and a contemporary of Marius Petipa, is known for restaging Petipa's classical ballets such as ''Swan Lake'', ''Don Quixote (ballet), Don Quixote'', and ''The Nutcracker''. ...

* 1907—1917 —

Vasily Tikhomirov Vasiliy Dmitriyevich Tikhomirov (1876–1956) was a dancer (from 1895) and a choreographer (from 1913) with the Bolshoi Ballet of Moscow, Russia. His most distinguished production was '' The Red Poppy'' (1927), with his wife Yekaterina Geltzer ...

(ru: Тихомиров, Василий Дмитриевич) * 1917—1924 — Alexander Alexeyevich Gorsky * 1924 — 1931 — ? * 1931—1936 — Viktor Aleksandrovich Semeonov (ru: Семёнов, Виктор Александрович) * 1937—1941 —

Pyotr Gusev Pyotr Andreyevich Gusev (russian: Пётр Андреевич Гусев) was a ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer. He was born on 29 December, 1904 in St. Petersburg. He studied at the St. Petersburg School of Choreography under . He was a ...

* 1942—1945 — Nikolay Ivanovich Tarasov (ru: Тарасов, Николай Иванович) * 1945—1947 —

Rostislav Zakharov Rostislav Vladimirovich Zakharov (russian: Ростислав Владимирович Захаров; September 7, 1907 – January 15, 1984) was a Soviet and Russian choreographer, ballet dancer and opera director. He was a professor at the Russia ...

* 1948—1953 —

Leonid Lavrovsky Leonid Mikhailovich Lavrovsky (1905–1967) was a Russian ballet choreographer, most famous for choreographing the first full version of Sergei Prokofiev's ''Romeo and Juliet''. Early life Lavrovsky was born in 1905 in St. Petersburg, the son ...

* 1953—1954 — Nikolay Ivanovich Tarasov * 1954—1958 — Michail Gabovich (ru: Габович, Михаил Маркович) * 1959—1964 — Yuriy Kondratov (ru: Кондратов, Юрий Григорьевич) * 1960—2001 —

Sofia Golovkina Sofia Nikolayevna Golovkina (alternate, Sophia; Russian, Головкина, Софья Николаевна; 13 October 1915 - 17 February 2004) was a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher. A graduate of the Moscow State Acade ...

(ru: Головкина, Софья Николаевна) * 1964—1967 —

* 1968—1972 —

Aleksey Yermolayev Aleksey Nikolayevich Yermolayev (Russian: Алексе́й Никола́евич Ермола́ев; 12 December 1975) was a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher. He played an important role in the development of Russian ba ...

* 1973—1987 — Maksim Martirosian (ru: Мартиросян, Максим Саакович) * 1988—1993 — Igor Uksusnikov (ru: Уксусников, Игорь Валентинович) * 2001—2002 — Boris Akimov (ru: Акимов, Борис Борисович) * 2002 — Marina Leonova (ru: Леонова, Марина Константиновна)

Method and education

The Bolshoi's method of teaching is founded on a classical training curriculum that is coordinated to the students' ability. The curriculum includes ballet technique, pointe work, centre work, repertoire, pas de deux, jazz, character dance and historical dance.

Facilities

Amenities at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy include twenty large studios with a professional non-slip dance floor. High ceilings make it possible to offer

pas de deux In ballet, a pas de deux (French language, French, literally "step of two") is a dance duet in which two dancers, typically a male and a female, perform ballet steps together. The pas de deux is characteristic of classical ballet and can be fo ...

classes, and two levels of ballet barres are provided for young children and adults.

Alumni

The Bolshoi is the school from which the

gets the majority of its dancers, as well as most other Moscow ballet companies. The academy has graduated a long list of acclaimed ballerinas and danseurs, including: * Maria Alexandrova * Alexander Andrianov *

Nina Ananiashvili Nina Ananiashvili (born: ''Nino Ananiashvili'', ka, ნინო ანანიაშვილი; born March 19, 1963) is a Georgian ballerina and artistic director of the State Ballet of Georgia. She has been described by the '' Daily Teleg ...

* Dmitry Belogolovtsev *

* Margarita Drozdova *

Sergei Filin Sergei Yurevitch Filin (russian: Серге́й Ю́рьевич Фи́лин; born 27 October 1970) is a Russian ballet dancer and the former artistic director of the Bolshoi Theater from 2011 through 2016. He is currently the Director of the ...

* Yekaterina Geltzer *

Nadezhda Gracheva Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Gracheva (russian: Надежда Александровна Грачёва; born 21 December 1969) is a Russian ballerina and ballet teacher who has danced with the Bolshoi Ballet. Early life Born in Semipalatinsk, Kazakh ...

* Dmitry Gudanov * Nina Kaptsova * Maria Kochetkova * Marina Kondratyeva *

Ekaterina Krysanova Ekaterina Valerievna Krysanova (russian: Екатерина Валерьевна Крысанова) is a Russian principal dancer of Bolshoi Ballet. Biography Krysanova was born in Moscow, Russia in 1985. Her mother took her to ballet lessons ...

Mikhail Lavronsky Mikhail Leonidovich Lavrovsky (russian: Михаи́л Леони́дович Лавро́вский; born 29 October 1941) is a Russian former principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet. Biography Lavrovsky was born on 29 October 1941 in Tbilisi, Geo ...

* Olga Lepeshinskaya *

Ilze Liepa Ilze Marisovna Liepa (russian: Илзе Марисовна Лиепа; born 22 November 1963 in Moscow) is a Russian ballet dancer and actress. She has been a soloist ballerina at the Bolshoi Theatre since 1981. She was invested with the title ...

Andris Liepa Andris Liepa (russian: Андрис Ма́рисович Лие́па; born Moscow, USSR, 6 January 1962) is a Russian ballet dancer, director and producer of Latvian ethnicity. He is the son of former Bolshoi Ballet dancer Māris Liepa. Biog ...

Maris Liepa Maris may refer to: Personal names *Māris (name), a Latvian masculine given name, including a list of people with the name *Maris (given name), including a list of people and mythical or fictional characters *Maris (surname), including a list of ...

* Svetlana Lunkina * Vladimir Malakhov *

Xenia Makletzova Xenia Makletzova (6 November 1892 — 18 May 1974), sometimes seen as Xenia Maclezova, was a Russian ballet dancer. Early life Xenia Petrovna Makletzova was born in Saint Petersburg, St. Petersburg. She trained as a dancer at the Bolshoi Ballet S ...

* Elina Melnichenko * Asaf Messerer * Alla Mikhalchenko *

Igor Moiseyev Igor Alexandrovich Moiseyev (russian: Игорь Александрович Моисеев; – 2 November 2007) was a Soviet choreographer. Moiseyev was widely acclaimed as the greatest 20th-century choreographer of character dance, a dance ...

Mikhail Mordkin __NOTOC__ Mikhail Mordkin (russian: Михаил Михайлович Мордкин; December 9, 1880, Moscow, Russian Empire - July 15, 1944, New York) graduated from the Bolshoi Ballet School in 1899, and in the same year was appointed ballet ...

Irek Mukhamedov Irek Dzhavdatovich Mukhamedov OBE (russian: Ирек Джавдатович Мухамедов: tt-Cyrl, Ирек Җәүдәт улы Мөхәммәтев; born 8 March 1960), is a Soviet-born British ballet dancer of Tatar origin who has danced ...

* Anastasia Nabokina *

Natalia Osipova Natalia Petrovna Osipova (russian: Наталья Петровна Осипова; born 18 May 1986) is a Russian ballerina, currently a principal ballerina with The Royal Ballet in London. Early life and training Born in Moscow, Osipova began ...

Alexander Plisetski Alexander Mikhailovich Plisetski (russian: Александр Михайлович Плисецкий) (20 October 1931 — 29 October 1985) was a Russian ballet master and choreographer and a younger brother of the famous Russian ballerina Maya ...

Polina Semionova Polina Alexandrovna Semionova (russian: link=no, Полина Александровна Семионова; born 13 September 1984) is a Russian ballet dancer and model for Uniqlo who is currently a principal dancer with the American Ballet T ...

Ruslan Skvortsov Ruslan Vasilyevich Skvortsov (russian: Руслан Васильевич Скворцов; born 31 January 1980) is a Russian principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet. Biography Ruslan Skvortsov was born in Yelets, Lipetsk Oblast, where he receiv ...

Nina Sorokina Nina Sorokina (russian: Нина Ивановна Сорокина) (13 May 1942 – 8 October 2011) was a Russian principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet and a 1987 People's Artist of the USSR recipient. Biography Sorokina was born on 13 May 19 ...

Galina Stepanenko Galina Olegovna Stepanenko (russian: Галина Олеговна Степаненко; born 12 June 1966) is a Russian ballet teacher. She is a former ''prima ballerina'' of the Bolshoi Ballet, and since 2013 has been head of the Bolshoi's bal ...

* Raisa Struchkova *

Nikolai Tsiskaridze Nikolay Maximovich Tsiskaridze PAR (russian: Николай Максимович Цискаридзе; ka, ნიკოლოზ ცისკარიძე, ''Nik'oloz Cisk'aridze'') is a Georgian-Russian ballet dancer who had been a member of ...

* Vladimir Vasiliev * Andrey Uvarov

Summer intensive

The academy partners with the Russian American Foundation to hold annual summer intensives at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and in Middlebury, CT.

References

External links

Official website

page at

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Summer Intensive in New York City
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moscow State Academy Of Choreography Education in Moscow Education in the Soviet Union Ballet schools in Russia 1773 establishments in the Russian Empire Choreography