BRANCH OFFICE

The legendary Bolshoi Ballet has opened its first school outside Russia – in Brazil. “The mayor’s office paid for the ballet to set up the school and also funds scholarships given to a majority of the school’s 165 or so students, who range in age from 7 to 14. Most of the students’ families cannot afford the equivalent of $170 in monthly fees. But five days a week, three hours a day, they glide and stretch and twirl in the sun-swept practice rooms, take assiduous notes on the history of ballet and learn about the 233-year-old Bolshoi’s legendary dancers, many of whose pictures decorate the school’s gleaming walls.” – Newsweek