Dancing Around the World: The Bolshoi Way (Final week- week 6)

Before I knew it, it was the sixth and final week of my Bolshoi summer. It was crazy how fast time had gone, and there was still so much we all wanted to do, so this last week, we tried to fit it all in!

On Monday, our ballet class was taught by my friend, Anton taught out ballet class (he taught technique until Wednesday) and class was really great! It was also good because there were a TON of Russian students that took it the final week! After class, we had Russian language class, but it was fun because we got to take a class trip to the University, and also took a hike through a park to get to and from there. We had fun getting to learn outside of the classroom!


All of the group on our class trip with our Russian teacher and friends

On Tuesday we had our last character class, and we got to dance every piece we had learned throughout the whole 5 weeks before. It was a lot of fun! After that class, we all had interviews about the program and about the results of the six weeks. I think we all did pretty well!

On Wednesday we had our last class with Anton, and a repertoire class with a new teacher we had never had before. It was kind of strange that we had him only once, and for the first time the last week. For Russian class that day, we got to go on a trip to the Kremlin. I had already been, but it is definitely one of the things you MUST see in Russia, so it was good that the other girls that hadn't seen it already got to go! After or trip, my friends Margo, Kyra and I went to one last trip to the Grishko store and to the Christ Our Savior church! It is so beautiful there!

Thursday's class was taught by our teacher, Syrova, who had taught us a few times in the previous weeks. She also taught repertoire, and I really liked the class! After, we got ready for a special dinner on the cruise boat again. This time, we were not going as long, but we still had fun, and it was a great way to say "goodbye" to Moscow. It was pretty emotional to see the beautiful views and things in the city all lit up, and knowing it was almost time to leave! Also, it was very sad because when we got back, it was our last night with our Russian friends, Artur and Nikita.

Friday was our last day. For ballet, we had our first teacher, Otrova, who also taught our repertoire class along with Sizova. One of the academy teachers that taught in NYC the first 3 weeks of our summer came to watch. We also got to dance a lot of different variations in class, and after that, Nikita and Laurie, and Artur and I got to do Corsaire Pas de Deux, and then took a lot of partnering pictures. It was a good ballet day! After that, we had to say goodbye to our friends, and then go to our last Russian language class. The night, we all wanted to stay up as long as possible and hang out together, which was a ton of fun!

Our flight home the next day was short, and it was time to say goodbye. It was sad that this amazing summer was ending, but I was so excited to get home to my family for some time!

Thank you RAF, NSLIY, and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy for giving me the most unforgettable summer!

From Moscow,
Tatum <3