Last night, Svetlana Zakharova's Gala Ballet without Borders took place on the Bolshoi stage in Moscow. Ballet stars danced in support of young dancers in war-torn Ukraine. This politically sensitive event was Zakharova's idea: she is Ukrainian and also a People's Artist of Russia, completing her training in Kiev and now a prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre, so her feet are in both camps.
The Kiev School was one of the best ballet schools in the former Soviet Union, where I studied for five years. It is my alma mater, where I made my first steps, where my journey began,
she told RIA Novosti.
When I was 15, I left the school and continued at the Vaganova School in St Petersburg. Then I joined the Mariinsky and now the Bolshoi Ballet.
Recently she returned to the school when she was in Kiev to perform Giselle and was shocked to see in what state the building was, with a leaky roof and little heating during the cold winters. The school was built 80 years ago, but there has been no maintenance for the last three decades. ...continue reading.
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