Apogee Relaunches its Partnership with Russia's Bolshoi Ballet Academy and Provides 15 Scholarships and Grants to the Academy's Top Students and Faculty

The Apogee Foundation and The Bolshoi Ballet Academy today announced that they have relaunched their long term partnership to develop excellence in the performing arts, and jointly marked the occasion by providing 15 Excellence Awards to the Academy's top students, graduates and faculty.

New York, May 16, 2006 (eMediaWire, PRWeb, PressBox) – The Apogee Foundation and The Bolshoi Ballet Academy today announced that they are marking the relaunch of their long term partnership by jointly selecting 15 of the Academy’s most talented students, artists and instructors to receive scholarships, prizes and grants from the Foundation.

In 1999 Apogee refurbished the Bolshoi Academy premises with Scandinavian mahogany furniture. The above photograph shows the Academy's library completely outfitted with these furnishings. Click image to enlarge

The Bolshoi Ballet Academy was founded in 1773 and has been one of the world’s premier performing arts training institutions for more than two centuries. During this era, it has produced most of the dancers for the Bolshoi Ballet Company as well as performers with many of the world's other leading companies, including some of the most famous names in the history of dance.

To support these traditions, Apogee has provided material and professional support to the institution and its participants over a ten year period valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Examples of this aid include the refurbishment of the entire Academy premises with mahogany furniture imported from Scandinavia, the donation of large transport vehicles and medical equipment, and the provision of year-round, 24/7 security for the Academy’s extensive premises. Since 1997, the Foundation also has provided more than 50 scholarships to the Academy's most gifted students and more than 10 grants to its most revered faculty members.

Artyom Ovcharenko and Vadim Kurochkin (first row left and right). Apogee doubled the number of scholarships available for this class level to insure both of these extremely talented students would receive recognition and support. Click image to enlarge

To mark the relaunch this partnership, a jury constituted of Apogee and Academy personnel selected the top female and top male student training at every level of the Academy’s eight year curriculum to receive Apogee Merit Scholarships throughout the coming academic year. Scholarships for the middle and senior classes are to begin immediately in the 2005/2006 academic year, with up to six further scholarships being made available for the junior classes and transfer students beginning in the autumn semester. Effective immediately, the following eight students have been named Apogee Merit Scholars: Darya Bochkova, Klim Efimov, Maria Mishina, Yanina Parienko, Yegor Evlanov, Maria Kramarenko, Vadim Kurochkin, and Artyom Ovcharenko.

Detailed information on Apogee's award programs can be found on the Foundation's website at: http://www.ApogeeFoundation.org/awards/index.php

Bolshoi Ballet Academy Rector Marina Leonova teaching class. Ms. Leonova's student, Yanina Parienko (first on the right), was selected as the top female student at the sixth level of training. Click image to enlarge

The jury selecting these Apogee Merit Scholars included Marina Leonova, the Rector of the Bolshoi Academy (acting as chairperson of the jury) along with the Bolshoi Academy's Artistic Director Genrykh Mayurov and Apogee President Kenneth Schneider. To insure fairness and transparency, the entire student body of the Academy was evaluated on the basis of both written and photographic documentation as well as by direct observation during an intensive, ten day selection process. All of the jury’s decisions were unanimously agreed.

Simultaneously with these student awards, the jury announced that it had selected the top female graduate and the top male graduate of the Academy’s class of 2006 to receive a special edition of the Foundation’s Rising Star Award, designated for world class artists reaching the apogee of human excellence at an early stage in their professional careers. These Rising Star Award laureates are Maria Vinogradova and Vladislav Lantratov, each of whom also had been previously identified and supported by the Foundation from the first years of their training at the Academy.

Tributes to Igor Uksusnikov and his students are mounted in the hallways of the Academy as an inspiration to future generations. Tributes to Kuznetsova, Litavkina, Zhdanov, Formanyants and other revered instructors from the Academy's history also are mounted nearby. Click images to enlarge

The Foundation also has announced that it is providing five of its Achievement Awards with accompanying grants to the Bolshoi Academy’s most senior faculty members. Apogee's Achievement Award is designated for instructors and directors who have consistently realized the potential of world class performing artists throughout the course of their life work. The five Achievement Award laureates are: Galina Kuznetsova, Ludmila Litavkina, Leonid Zhdanov, Igor Uksusnikov and Evgenia Formanyants.

This brings the number of Excellence Award laureates named at the Bolshoi Academy for the 2005/2006 academic year to a total of 15, with up to seven additional student and faculty awards to be added in the autumn semester. The delivery of this full slate of awards is intended to demonstrate Apogee’s and the Academy’s continuing, shared commitment to fostering excellence in the performing arts throughout the full career cycles of Russia’s most gifted performing artists: from the earliest years of their training to the culmination of their life's work as leaders in their fields.

Apogee President Kenneth Schneider with Bolshoi Academy Rector Marina Leonova. The heads of Apogee and the Academy are shown above in the Rector's office of the Academy. All of the furnishings shown here also were provided to the Academy by the Foundation in 1999. Click image to enlarge

Marina Leonova, Rector of the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, said: "We are delighted to continue our collaboration with Ken Schneider and the Apogee Foundation. Over the past ten years, this relationship has resulted in much good for our Academy’s participants, facilities and programs, and we look forward to many more years working together to fulfill our shared aim of producing world class performing artists.”

Apogee President Kenneth Schneider said: “The Bolshoi Ballet Academy has been one of the world’s most illustrious performing arts training institutions for more than two centuries. We have been privileged to partner with it over the past decade to fulfill the potential of many of Russia’s most talented artists, and we are glad to now further develop this relationship with Marina Leonova and the dedicated members of her faculty who carry on this institution’s historic traditions.”

To view this news release with full photographic content and to download printer friendly and PDF formats, as well as to obtain translations into other languages, please refer to the Foundation's website: http://www.ApogeeFoundation.org/awareness/2005-2006/bolshoi_partnership.php

The Bolshoi Ballet Academy has been one of the world's most illustrious performing arts training institutions for over two centuries. Above is shown the main entrance to the Academy's custom designed premises, which occupy an entire city block in central Moscow. Click image to enlarge

About The Bolshoi Ballet Academy
The Bolshoi Ballet Academy, now officially titled the Moscow State Academy of Choreography, was founded in 1773. The Academy occupies custom designed facilities covering a full city block in central Moscow, where it provides an integrated program of professional dance training and academic studies over the course of a rigorous eight year curriculum. Throughout the two centuries of its existence, the Academy has trained the vast majority of dancers performing for the Bolshoi Ballet, including many of the most famous names in the history of dance.

About The Apogee Foundation ®
The Apogee Foundation began activities in Russia in 1997 and was incorporated in the United States in 2004 as a New York based not-for-profit corporation. Apogee is dedicated to the development of human excellence in the performing arts. It supports cultural institutions and individual artists, providing administrative, promotional, and financial support to help talented individuals achieve their full potential, and enabling this potential to be showcased to the world.

© The Apogee Foundation ® Achieving the Potential of Human Excellence in the Performing Arts

Contact
Kenneth Schneider, Apogee President
1001 Avenue of the Americas, 12th Floor
New York, NY 10018-5460 (USA)
+1.646.233.4350 or +1.888.APOGEE.8
Fax: +1.646.292.5101
www.ApogeeFoundation.org

Direct newswire links
eMediaWire: http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2006/5/emw385290.htm
PressBox (UK): http://www.pressbox.co.uk/detailed/Arts/Apogee_Relaunches_its_Partnership_
with_Russia_s_Bolshoi_Ballet_Academy_and_Provides_15_Scholarships_69016.html