Leading Ballet School Kirov Academy to Close in May


Kirov students have become leading dancers in the best companies in the world. Dancers trained by Kirov at the American Ballet Theater include Melanie Hamrick, Sascha Radetsky, and Hee Seo.

“It is unprecedented that the school has produced so many extraordinary careers in such a short time,” said Evan McKie, a 1999 graduate who has danced with the Stuttgart Ballet for 13 years and has been a principal dancer with the Canadian National Ballet since 2014.

Brooklyn Mack, a 2004 graduate of the school who has danced in lead roles with the British National Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre, described the closing as a sad state of affairs. In the early years of the Academy, Russia’s St. He remembered how guest artists from the Kirov Ballet in St. Petersburg performed with the students at the recitals. The school and company no longer have a relationship, but when they did, Mack said, the school was a gem: “There was no other place in the country like it.”

Rev. He opened Moon Kirov in 1990, 36 years after he founded the Unification Church. The religious movement is most popular for its mass weddings, business ventures, conservative policies, and the self-proclaimed messiah Rev. He is known for his longtime dedication to Moon.

Her interest in ballet was fueled by her friendship with Hoon Sook Pak, the daughter of a ballerina and a close vice president of The Washington Times, Bo Hi Pak. In 1984, Hoon Sook Pak toured with the Washington Ballet and Rev. She was preparing for the lead role in “Giselle” when Moon’s 17-year-old son drove his car off the road. After the bachelor died, he was ineligible to enter heaven according to the teachings of the church, so Hoon Sook Pak agreed to marry the soul of the dead youth in a lavish ceremony in which he carried his portrait.

Later that year, Rev. Moon founded the Universal Ballet company, named Julia Moon, with Hoon Sook as the principal dancer. Six years later, a former palatial monastery near the Catholic University was reopened as the Kirov Academy.



Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *