Russian American Foundation and the renowned Bolshoi Ballet Academy are offering U.S. students the ability to compete for a place at the iconic Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, as part of the Summer Intensive 2012.  Of those selected 15 high-school students will be offered a life-changing opportunity to spend 6 weeks during summer of 2012 in Moscow on a full scholarship, as part of the NSLI-Y program funded by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Additionally, one male and one female dancer, ages 9-22, will also be selected at the end of the program and will be offered a training and a performing scholarship in Moscow by the Russian American Foundation.  Students in 16 cities audition to train with Master Teachers from Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet Academy, one of the oldest and the most respected ballet institution in the world.  “We are offering top American ballet students the opportunity to train with Academy’s master teachers,” says Rina Kirshner, vice president of the Russian American Foundation. “Those teachers have trained some of ballet’s most famous stars such as Natalia Osipova, Polina Semionova, Alexei Ratmansky, Maria Kochetkova, Nikolai Tsiskaridze and many others.”  In 2011, ABT’s principal dancer David Hallberg made international headlines and ballet history by becoming the first American dancer to enlist permanently with the Bolshoi Ballet.  In his youth, David Hallberg trained at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy Summer Youth program in U.S. To register and to see the auditions dates click here.