Hi guys! I hope you all enjoyed my first blog ;P. So after my 3 weeks in New York City with Bolshoi, I left for Moscow, Russia! I can't believe how fast my time in New York went! I twas so much fun, but I was soooo excited to leave and finally be in Moscow at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy! And now I am FINALLY in Moscow, Russia! I have wanted to be here for so many years, and now my dream has come true! I AM IN MOSCOW! And I am training and living at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy!
I cannot even describe to you how I feel! Everything that is happening to me is so surreal! Everyday I wake up and have to make sure I am actually here! AMAZING!
My first week here was kind of just a week of settling in! We were all really jet-lagged and tired from our long day of travelling (or "days" since we left ssturday morning and got here on Sunday evening). When we arrived to the dorms, it was raining really hard, and most of us just passed out that night! The next day we had our first ballet classes! We got our schedules in NYC before we left, and found out that we were going to be having many teachers throughtout our six weeks here! I think it is somewhere around 20 different Bolshoi teachers! That first day was so exciting, but so nerve-raking! It was so cool to see everything in the Academy! Here's a picture of the infamous Bolshoi hallway!
After my first classes at the academy, we got to eat lunch and then had some free time before our Russian language class; a 2 1/2 to 3 hour class we take everyday! I went downstairs with my friend Margo while the other girls decided to go exchange their money at the банк! Then look who I got to see!
I was SO surprised and happy to see my old friends from Bolshoi 2 summer ago! I have missed them so much! The one on the left is Artemiy, who now dances with the Bolshoi Theatre! Anton is one of my friends from the very first summer of Bolshoi in Connecticut! Josh, the one on the right, was my ballet partner two years ago in New York! In the final show there, we danced Nutcracker Grand Pas together (I will upload a video later!) and he now dances for Stanislavskiy Ballet here in Moscow! It was nice catching up, and I also found out that Anton would be coming for the last 2 weeks to teach a Repertoire class at the academy!
The rest of the week we worked really hard, so it was nice to get to go out to see the city sometimes! The program taakes us out every Tuesday and Thursday to a restaurant here in Moscow, that way we get to see the city and culture, and try new foods! We even took a master art class with Tseritelli, who is a famous Russian artist, as part of our Russian culture studies.
On Wednesday, we were all SO excited to go see the Stanislavskiy perform Don Quixote! We made it just in time, and when the curtain opened, I was shocked to see my friend Josh on stage! I recognized his dancing immediately, and it was so exciting getting to see him perform in Russia!!!!! He even had his own part/ duet in the second act which was BEAUTIFUL! He, and the rest of the company, were absolutely WONDERFUL! It was such a great performance!
At the end of the week, we all had to leave to academy and go with our host families! Everyone was kind of nervous and excited, and luckily I got a really nice and friendly family! My host dad, Valery, my host mom, Marina, and their 23 year old son Nikita, were all very welcoming and excited to show us around Moscow! The first night they took us to Red Square and to walk around central Moscow! The most exciting part of that night was seeing the Bolshoi Theatre! Unfortunately, the theatre is under construction right now, but even with this, I LOVED seeing! When we first saw it, my heart literally stopped! It sounds cheesy and cliche, but it was really a dream come true! It was so overwhelming, because I have been dreaming of what it would be like to be here and seeing something so famous and beautiful!
I really enjoyed my first week in this AMAZING city, and looking forward to the next 5 weeks!
Til' next time,
XOXO
Tatum <3
p.s. sorry my blogging is a tad behind! I may be posting numerous posts a day because of the schedule im on! Moscow Week 2 blog coming soon!
(originally posted July 29, 2011)
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