Moscow State Academy of Choreography

Marina Kondratyeva and Maris Liepa - two famous graduates

The Moscow State Academy of Choreography ( Russian Московская государственная академия хореографии ) is a Moscow ballet school. It is affiliated with the Bolshoi Ballet and therefore also known as the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. Most of the dancers of the Bolshoi Theater received their training here.

history

Start of dance training in what was then the Imperial House of Education (Orphanage) in Moscow, now the Russian Military Academy

This ballet school is one of the oldest and most renowned in the world. It was founded in 1763 by Tsarina Catherine II as the first theater school in Moscow. This took place initially in the form of dance training as part of the “Imperial House of Education” (Импера́торский Воспита́тельный дом). The Italian dance teacher Filippo Beccari was invited to teach 26 girls and 28 boys the art of dance.

The first "dance classes" began in 1773; the first degrees took place in 1779. The classes were placed under the supervision of the Petrowski Theater - the first musical theater in Moscow and forerunner of the Bolshoi Theater - and in 1806 under that of the Imperial Theater, until they were finally reorganized as the Moscow Imperial Theater School. In the years 1920 to 1961 several renaming took place; more followed:

from 1961: Moscow Academic Technical School of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR
from 1987: Moscow State Institute for Choreography
from 1995: Moscow State Academy of Choreography.

From 1961 to 1968, an Academy building complex was built on 2nd Frunze Street in the center of Moscow according to the designs of architects VV Lebedev and A. Larin, for which the architects received a national architecture award.

Today 150 boys and girls between the ages of 11 and 16 are taught at this school as part of a comprehensive school with boarding school. Half of the students are foreigners, including around 30 Japanese. There are ten applications for one place in the annual bankruptcies (entrance exams). The graduates give a presentation of their achievements every year.