Visit to Masters of Ballet Academy: Summer School

Photo credit: Masters of Ballet Academy

A small group of members attended the performance at The Place on 5 August by Juniors, Seniors and Pre-Professional students. This was the finale to a 10 day Summer Intensive, which some members had seen in rehearsal.

Like any gala there was a mixture of the familiar - solos and short exerpts from Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker; the less familiar - Diana and Acteon, Flames of Paris and Paquita; and variations you have never seen.

The main emphasis was on classical ballet but there was space for more modern neo classical and character dance. The mix of solo, corps and pas de deux was also well chosen. The programme listed 29 excerpts, all in about 85 minutes with a Grand Defile ending. Clearly intensive indeed but enjoyable for both students and audience alike.

A short video of the Masters of Ballet Summer Intensive Gala Performance can be found here.

MASTERS OF BALLET ACADEMY – Summer School Day of Classes

A small group of members were treated to a special day watching pupils attending this summer school on Thursday 27th July 2023.  We were given choices at each changeover point in the day and guided by the chaperones helping out at the school who went out of their way to be helpful, even making us coffee over the lunch break.

We started with class for the pre-professional group taught by Denis Matvienko, formerly principal at the Mariinsky and also formerly a teacher at the Vaganova Academy.  This group had a wide range of ages from 16 year olds through to recent graduates of vocational schools such as Stuttgart and the Bolshoi Academy, and also included a few dancers who had already embarked on professional careers.

In the next session, members chose to watch either the girls’ solos being coached by the school head Elena Glurjidze, or the boys’ solos coached by Denis.  Their attention to detail and the pupils’ willingness to learn showed through with immediate improvements. 

After lunch these groups came together for their daily pas deux lesson with Elena and Denis, revising what had been learnt earlier in the week and learning more sections for the performance.  The choreography was challenging in both difficulty and tempo and it was quite impressive how much the pupils had already accomplished.