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History of the Bolshoi
Ballet Academy
The history of the Bolshoi Ballet Academy dates back to
1773 when fine arts including dance were added to the
curriculum of the Moscow Foundling Home founded in 1763
per the Order of Empress Catherine II of Russia.
Filippo Beccari, an Italian instructor, was first
invited to teach “the art of dancing” to 26 little girls
and 28 boys. Four-hour-long lessons were held four times
a week. The talented Russian orphans quickly mastered
the subtleties of the foreign art of dance and six years
later Leopold Paradis, another famous foreigner,
produced his first group of graduates. His students
joined the Petrovsky Theatre Company (today’s Bolshoi).
The folk aka “character” dance has always been held in
high regard by the Moscow school – the studies have been
exhaustive, and character dancers have always been in
demand at the Bolshoi. There was also a rapid
development in classical ballet. It was the Russian
interpretation of La Sylphide that many eyewitnesses
gave preference to, seeing it as the one representing
“the soul of Russian ballet”.
In the end of 1880s, after passing of a new Statute by
which the Moscow Imperial Ballet School was renamed The
Moscow School of Ballet, Jose Mendez began to train his
students including Ekaterina Geltser, the future prima
ballerina, in the novelties of the virtuoso Italian
school. He nurtured strong toe and pirouette techniques,
as well as balance and stage presence sense while
carefully maintaining the overall musicality of the
performance for which the Moscow school had always been
renowned.
In the 1930s the famous figures from the Petersburg
ballet world joined the faculty of the School: Elizaveta
Gerdt, Aleksandr Chekrygin, Viktor Semyonov and Mariya
Kozhukhova moved to Moscow where their efforts helped
nurture a galaxy of great ballerinas and superb male
premier dancers. Later Marina Semyonova worked at the
School.
In 1933 Olga Lepeshinskaya, the brilliant virtuoso,
graduated from the School.
During World War II the School produced two star
graduates: Maya Plisetskaya (1943) and Raisa Struchkova
(1944). And in late 50s – early 60s the Moscow Ballet
School graduates, Ekaterina Maximova (1958) and Natalia
Bessmertnova (1961), began their careers.
In 1960 - 2001 Sophia Golovkina led and managed the
Moscow Ballet School. Since 2002 the Bolshoi Ballet
Academy has been ably led by the former leading Bolshoi
performer Marina Leonova (Rector, People’s Artist of
Russia, Professor).
There are world famous ballet performers among the
graduates of the Bolshoi Ballet Academy: V. Malakhov,
A.Uvarov, N.Tsiskaridze, S.Lunkina, N.Osipova, etc.
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