Kazan School of Choreography is now younger than the youngest of its pupils. But very soon — in 2003 — it will be 10 years old
CHOICE
When we are young, we have a chance to dream. At first you can dream of being an ice-cream man, a year later — a fireman, and then you can change your mind and decide to become a pilot. But when the time comes to actually choosing your future profession it turns out that many of us haven't made this choice.
Many, but not the students of ballet schools.
Artistic Director of Kazan School of Choreography Ninel Dautovna Yultyeva says that their ten-year olds — this is the age of their freshmen — can't imagine being in a different profession. But in order to reach perfection talent and abilities are not enough. You must have strong will, tremendous patience and stubborn diligence.
Director of the School Lidiya Alexandrovna Yakovleva was asking the same question: «What do you have to do to become a ballet dancer?» Those boys and girls, still tired from the physical stress, each had his or her own answer, but the meaning of their words was the same: work, work, work. And they've made their choice.
Faculty members of the school have made their choice as well: follow the example of the leading ballet schools of the country, attempting to raise ballet dancers whose names would be recognized in Russia and all over the world as graduates of the Kazan School of Choreography. There is only one formula for reaching this goal: work, work, work. Of course, first of all this depends on the talent of the students and on the skills of the teachers, but organizational, administrative abilities of the school management are also important. The School needs to have a boarding house, which would allow it to accept young talents from out of town. Although right now there are some kids from other towns, they are ready to live in a rented apartment just to be able to follow their calling.
By the way, graduates already draw attention of ballet company directors from many national theatres. One of the girls that graduated this year had job offers from three theaters at the same time. This is not the world stage yet, but still it is an obvious sign of recognition.
Petr BELKIN
Photo: Yury FEKLISTOV