Graduation Exams 2022

The State Exams in choreographic disciplines have taken place this week. Finally, students have got through intense preparation, many hours of rehearsals and endless worries. This year 8 foreign students from Italy, Romania, Canada, Great Britain, Japan and the USA are graduating from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy.

This year, foreign students took classical dance and duet exams on the stage of the Academy’s Theater. Rachel Mortensen from Canada comments: “Stage is incredible to dance on. It was more like the performance and we experienced various emotions there. We are definitely very happy to be finished after 4 years at the Academy”.

Classical dance and duet were the most difficult exams and were hard in different ways. Fion Ballard from the USA notes: “We have mirror in class, so we can feel more stable as on stage we feel floating and cannot quickly find exactly where we are”. Ria Adachi from the USA says that duet was hard because they should trusted not just themselves but a partner as well.

The graduates are going to miss teachers, training and performances, they feel a mix of happiness and sadness at the same time. The students have to pass the last exam in June and then it will be the long-awaited presentation of diplomas.

We wish them good luck!

Photos by Alisa Aslanova and Elizaveta Emel’kina.