PACE Ballet Theatre: Intensive ballet camp

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - If pointe shoes, tutus and pirouettes are your favorite things, get ready for the Performing Arts Cultural Exchange’s intensive summer camp, set for July 31-Aug. 19 in Pensacola, Fla. Each week offers 30 hours of class time. The camp will feature Russian instructors such as Marina Medvetskaya, Nikoloz Makhateli, Natalia Romanova, Yulia Yashina and Denis Simon. Pace Ballet Theatre is partnering with the City of Pensacola to bring this rare opportunity to residents and guests of the Pensacola, Fla. area.

PACE Ballet Theatre’s one week camp lessons cost $1,750, two weeks cost $3,550 and three weeks cost $5,350. Transportation to and from the hotel is included for out-of-town students. A 25-percent deposit is due by July 15.

Classes

Students will have the chance to participate in three weeks of study, with 30 classes per week. Courses include pointe, character, ballet, repertoire, stage action/pantomime, repertory dance style, partnering and show rehearsal.

Pace Ballet Theatre is a nonprofit, offering cultural exchange as a big part of its mission. Students in the camp will get to study with classically trained professionals from Russia.

Get to know the instructors

Medvetskaya spent 30 years as the artistic director for the St. Petersburg Classic Ballet Theater, and soloist with them for ten years. She is a registered ballet teacher based on the Vaganova’s syllabus. She studied with Vakhtang Chabukiany and earned a certificate with the Conservatory of Classical Ballet.

Makhateli was a principal dancer for 26 years with the National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Georgia USSR, and was trained at the State Choreographic Institute of Georgia. He was a protege of famed Kirov dancer, Vakhtang Chabukiani, and studied the complete eight-year Vaganova syllabus. He studied choreography in St. Petersburg at the Vaganova Ballet Academy, learning the entire Petipa repertoire under Oleg Vinogradov, former artistic director of the Kirov (Mariinsky) Ballet.

Romanova is a graduate of the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg and studied under Natalia Dudinskaya. She was a soloist with the Saint Petersburg State Ballet Theater of Russia. She is currently a principal dancer with The International Classic Ballet Theatre of Marina Medvetskaya.

Yashina studied at the Bashkir Choreographic College She specializes in choreography, character dance and classical ballet. She has performed principal roles in “Swan Lake”, “The Nutcracker”, “Giselle”, “Don Quixote”, “Cinderella”, “La Bayadere”, “Chopeniana” and “Romeo and Juliet”. She is currently an instructor and performer at the Marinsky Children’s Theatre in St. Petersburg.

Simon completed character studies at the School of Classical Ballet from the prestigious Kiev Municipal Academy of Dance, where he was chosen twice to participate in the international exchange program with the International Ballet Academy in South Carolina. He has performed as a soloist with The International Classic Ballet Theatre of Marina Medvetskaya in “Le Corsaire”, “Hopak”, “The Nutcracker”, “Sleeping Beauty” and “Swan Lake”.

The camp will be held at the Gull Point Resource Center at 7000 Spanish Trail Pensacola, Fla. 32504. The three-week course will conclude with a gala concert performance.

To register, or for more information, please visit www.paceballet.org. Direct questions to Sheila Kleiman at paceballettheatre@yahoo.com.

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