An American in Moscow

Something that happens when one devotes a huge amount of time to Ballet--and I suppose with anything, really--is that it begins to encroach on your entire life. Although I haven't stepped foot inside of a dance studio in three years, I still find myself drawn into random dance-related things. My internal calender is still calibrated to the dance world: Christmas, for example, will always be Nutcracker season; January-April is all about auditions; and June-August is one intensive after another.

I say all of that by way of introduction. While scrolling through my Facebook today, I stumbled upon a video from the New York Times that chronicles two American dancers--one 15 and one 12--who are currently studying at Russia's Bolshoi Academy. This is notable for two reasons: 1) the Bolshoi is arguably the best dance school in the world and is notoriously difficult to attend and 2) foreign students of any kind--especially American--are few and far between.

I, for one, was shocked and proud to see both how talented and humble Joy is and wish her the best of luck. I can't wait to see where the future takes her.

Here is the link to the video for my fellow bunheads...or anyone who is at all interested:

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/05/31/arts/dance/1247467933017/an-american-at-the-bolshoi.html