Bolshoi Ballet Academy (Moscow State Academy of Choreography)

#1 of 1

General

Who is Reviewing?

Dancer

Program:

Bolshoi Ballet Academy (Moscow State Academy of Choreography)

Season Attended:

2021-22

# Of Levels In School:

In the school their are 8 levels with levels 6-8 being the "diploma course" where graduating students recieve a college degree in ballet/classical dance. International trainees technically study the 5th level syllabus, and can only move forward into the other levels to graduate from the school by passing the 5th class exam and being chosen by the school to continue training.

Dancer Age:

Company Affliated?

Yes

Was Student Scholarshipped?

Years At School:

1 year

Curriculum

Days Per Week:

Classes Per Day:

Weekend Classes?

Yes

Weekend Schedule:

Half day

Students Per Class:

10-15

Weekly Repertoire or Variations?

Yes

Pointe Classes Per Week:

Live Music in Technique Class?

Yes

Dedicated Men's Program?

Yes

Boys In Level:

More than 20

Separate Technique Class for Boys:

Yes

Techniques Taught:

Vaganova

Technique Teacher Rotation:

Usually the same every day

Did School Director Teach?

Never (school admin was NOT designated as an upper level teacher)

Classroom Corrections:

Dancer specific: detailed but only a few dancers consistently got corrections

Attention From Teachers:


Very Little	A Lot

Quality of Instruction:


Poor	Excellent

Did Technique Improve?


Not at all	Tremendously

Curriculum Comments:

International Trainees (women) train separately from the Russian students and continue to train separately if they pass on to the upper levels. Since there are so few international men, they do not go through the "trainee" stage. They're automatically placed in either level 6 or 7 of the school with the Russian students. Trainees take fewer classes than the diploma course students. In my trainee class, we started with ballet class at 8:30-10:00, then would have 2-3 other dance classes. Pointe was 45 minutes, Rep was 1 hour 30 minutes, and gymnastics, contemporary, character, and historical dance were 1 hour. Additionally, trainees take Russian language, the amount of hours depending on skill level. As I'm already half-Russian and speak Russian, I only took 5 hours of Russian language per week, while others took closer to 10 hours. In the diploma courses, since the courses count towards a college degree, students take dance history, theater history, stage makeup, pedagogy and other academic courses along with Russian language. Diploma course students also take pas de deux and acting with their other dance classes.

Partnering

Frequency of Partnering Class:

No partnering

Other Classes

Other Dance Styles:

Character, Modern, Historical Dance

Other Class Quality:


Poor	Excellent

Contemporary Offered?

Yes

Types of Contemporary Classes Taught:

Improv, Technique

Contemporary Quality:


Poor	Excellent

Master Classes?

Strength & Conditioning

Physical Training Offered?

Yes

Physical Training Types:

Pilates (mat or reformer), Stretch class

Physical Training Schedule:

Several times a week

Were Trainers Certified?

Yes

Physical Training Quality:


Poor	Excellent

Injuries/Health/ Mental Health

Are Doctors Available?

Yes

How Parents Notified?

Student told parent. School not involved

How Treatment Obtained?

For injuries, there was a physical therapist on site. When I had a knee injury, I visited the therapist, and he assigned me to get sonar and electric therapy three times a week in the school's medical wing. I'm unsure how much this particular therapy helped. The injury felt better after a week, but I also hadn't been dancing for that week.

PT Available?

Yes, it is part of fees

Was There a Recovery Plan?

Describe Recovery Plan:

There was a recovery plan, though I hesitate to say comprehensive. Very little actual physical therapy was done to rehab injuries. No students I know were given any concrete exercises or tasks to perform for their injuries. Students were told to get some sort of therapy with the machines at the school. The in-house therapist never worked with in-depth students, only gave doctors notes to sit out of class, assigned students machine therapy sessions, and sometimes helped with taping injuries with KT tape. Anyone I knew with more serious injuries that couldn't be healed from what the school had would go to an outside therapist or doctor.

Mental Health Therapists Available?

Were Students Given Fat Talk?

Yes

Staff Made Comments About Bodies?

Yes

Were Students Weighed?

Yes

Was "Coded Language" Used?

Yes

Additional Comments:

Women are not allowed to participate in pas de deux classes if they are weighted over 50kg (110lbs). Their dance class grades will also be docked if they're recorded as being above this weight, or looking like they could be above that weight, preventing passing exams to move up to the next level. Students are weighed every 3 weeks, and severe eating disorders were rampant, particularly among the international students who often were not naturally that weight. The school accepts students into the trainee program even if above the 50kg weight limit at time of audition (I was 52kg when I submitted my audition materials).

Performances: Winter Show/ Nutcracker

Performance Opportunities:

2-3

School Winter Show?

Yes

Company or School Show?

School puts on it's own production and students dance all the parts

Cast in Winter Show?

Yes

How Chosen:

Chosen by school director or the company artistic staff

Winter Show Role:

Dancing part

Were You Paid?

Performance: Ballet Season

Cast in Company Productions?

Competition

School Does Competitions?

Yes

Competitions Required?

How Many Compete?

Unsure, from what I saw, it seems that 6-7 students were chosen for each competition.

% of Students Who Performed:

How Chosen?

I believe that instructors would choose certain students to participate in particular competitions

Competitions Cost Extra?

No fees

Separate Competition Rehearsals?

Yes

Competition Interfered With Training?

I never participated in a competition through the school.

Communication

Formal Orientation?

Handboook & Paperwork:

Adequate but missing several key pieces

Quality of Communication?


Poor	Excellent

Who Received Communication?

With dancers only. Parents not involved

Exams

Formal Exam?

Yes

Written Feedback?

Yes

Exam Adjudicator:

Internal

Exam Rubrics Clear?

Agree

Who Attends Exam Meeting?

Well Prepared For Exam?


Not at all	Completely

How Heavily Did Exams Weigh in Promotions:


Not at all	Heavily

School Culture

How Supported Did Student Feel By Staff?


Not	Completely

How Supportive Were Students of One Another?


Not	Completely

Describe School Culture:

restricted, exhausting, fascinating

Placement Notification Timing:

After exams, which are during the final week of the school year (June)

Overall School Culture:


Lord of the Flies	Warm & Inclusive

School Outcomes

Is Student In Upper Levels?

Yes

Highest Levels of School?

There are no bridge levels

How Many Promoted Internally to Bridge Level:

N/A

How Many Come From Outside to Bridge Level?

Complicated to answer as there aren't company bridge levels, but international female students have a bridge level to entering the school. There were 3 international classes with 10-15 dancers in each class, 15 dancers (max) in total from these three classes would be chosen to move into 6th class, forming their own class.

Where Graduates Who Do Not Get Bridge Level Go:

Some find positions elsewhere and about half leave ballet

How Many Left and Went to College?

Can only speak on my particular group- 0 went into college programs, though half were too young for college. For the question below, I know of 4 international girls in the graduating class who received company offers.

Career Support:

Received no help - I was on my own

Describe How School Helped:

International students receive no help with auditions as far as I'm aware. Company directors come to the Russian graduating class exams, but not the international ones. At the school, company offers are extended through those exams. Therefore, international students had to create their own audition materials to send to companies.

Building & Surrounding Area

Security Around Building:

Yes

Safety of Area Around School?


Not Safe	Extremely Safe

Studio Space:


Cramped	Lots of space

Studio Cleanliness:


Dirty	Spotless

Housing

Was Housing Provided?

Yes

Did Dancer Stay in Provided Housing?

Yes

Type of Housing Provided::

Dorms

Housing Minimum Age:

# of Roommates::

Adequate # of RA's?


Not at all	Absolutely

Type of Bathrooms::

One big bathroom on the floor

Curfew?

Yes

Curfew Reasonable?

Yes

Nightly Room Check?

Yes

Dorm Strictness:


Extremely Lax	Extremely Strict

How Infractions Handled?

Fair, Skewed depending on student, Skewed depending on the RA, My student had no infractions this year (as far as I know!)

How Roommate Issues Handled?

Handled among roommates from what I saw. RAs would get involved with conflicts between the younger students (9-13 year olds)

Housing Cleanliness:


Dirty	Spotless

Students Required to Clean Room?

Yes

Laundry Available?

Yes

Laundry Free?

Yes

Evening Activities?

Yes

A/C In Room?

Weekend Outings?

Transportation Between Housing and Studios?

Public transportation without chaperone

Safety Around Housing:


Not Safe	Very Safe

Overall Rating of Housing:


Poor	Excellent

Additional Comments:

Nothing major. While I only had 2 other roommates, most rooms have 4 occupants. Approval needed to be received from RAs whenever leaving the dormitory. The dorms are a part of the same building as the school, just one floor above. The cafeteria was at the bottom floor. There is one large bathroom for the girls with two shower rooms, one for older students and another for younger. The men have their own bathroom as well, though much smaller as there are fewer of them.

Meal Plan

Meal Plan?

Yes

Food Quality:


Gross	Excellent

Enough Food?

Yes

Late Meals Available?

Sometimes

Dancer w/ Dietary Needs?

Yes

What Were Needs?

Vegetarian

Dietary Needs Met?

Academics

How Did Academics Work?

Integrated

Academic Support:

Students attended in person classes provided by school

Did the School Support Academics?


Didn't support	Definitely supported

Overall Program Grades

Overall Dance Instruction:

C+

Career Support and Placement:

Emotional Support:

Housing & Food:

B+

Performance Opportunities:

C-

Overall Comments

Program's Best Aspect:

All non-ballet classes. I thoroughly enjoyed the character and historical dance classes and found them really interesting. The school also offered the international trainees really amazing field trips- we had tours of the Grishko pointe shoe factory as well as the Bolshoi theater.

Program's Worst Aspect:

The ballet training surprisingly- The school really has no idea how to work with bodies that aren't like the bodies of the Russian students, students whom they select from thorough auditions examining their facility and proportions. Getting the result the school wants it's nearly always done by forcing positions. 180-degree turnout and legs at a certain height is a requirement, regardless of whether that is realistically achievable for the particular student. Poor technique is excused as long as the positions are achieved, and major injuries were frequent among international students.

What Changes Would Be Helpful?

The program should not be accepting students who don't meet the same physical standards as the Russian students. While I don't agree with their physical standard, particularly around weight, I think it's necessary for students to meet those requirements in order to not get injured and to not develop severe disordered eating. The school irresponsibly takes large amounts of international students for the sake of money (my tuition was $30,000 for one year), knowing they don't meet the physical standards, and the students suffer for it.

Anything Else We Should Know?

International women receive very few performance opportunities. They don't perform in the graduation performance at the Bolshoi Theater unless they're already in the Russian class (international women students with the proper facility/weight can be moved to work with the Russian students full-time like the international boys). Exceptions exist for students at a certain height/weight and in their graduating year- sometimes 1-2 international women will be chosen to perform in a character piece or in a corps piece. Opportunities to perform a solo/variation in a school show only come about in 8th class, sometimes 7th class. Auditions for the school concerts happen a few days before the concert, and you may or may not be chosen to perform based on that audition. 7th class may perform a few character/historical dances at each concert. 6th class usually performs two character/historical pieces per year. I was lucky in my time there that there were so few 6th class girls, so my trainee class was used to supplement their pieces. The girls in my trainee class were able to perform in both 6th-class pieces when usually trainees don't perform at all. This doesn't apply to international boys or international girls placed in the Russian classes. They perform in company productions as well as all school concerts, and variation opportunities come about as early as 4th class. I personally believe if you're not looking to have a career in Eastern Europe, you are much better off going to any other school. To work in Eastern Europe, you almost always need a diploma in classical ballet, which Bolshoi and other Eastern schools give you. This school prepares you for the expectations of dancing in Eastern Europe, but I don't feel prepares students for dancing in the West. In my opinion, there is not enough pointe training, variety in repertoire, or performance experience to properly prepare anyone in the international classes for getting a job in Western company. The training is the same as the Russian students, as the international students take the same state exams, but international students receive none of the school investment, performance opportunities or company support that make going to a school like this worthwhile.

Loading…