Gazette Times: …To her surprise, Ayers-Hale was accepted to participate in the intense, six-week summer ballet program taught by professionals from the world-renowned Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, Russia. The news came in the form of a voicemail. In her first year of auditioning for a summer intensive since her introduction to ballet at age 3, Ayers-Hale was accepted… read more

Republican-American: Perfectly pointed feet in pink tights plied, frapped and pirouetted across the faux wood floor of a studio at Westover School on Sunday as dancers vied for a chance to train with instructors from Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet Academy this summer. read more

New York Times: “…To this day the wisest advice I’ve heard relating to Russian-American relations was offered by Nicholas Burns, a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and former diplomat, who wrote, “There are times when we have to deal with the world as it is to eventually get the world we want.” Until both countries accept each other’s differences and concentrate on the way mutual cooperation can benefit each other, no long-term progress will be achieved. President Obama’s and President Dmitri A. Medvedev’s willingness to do that in Mr. Obama’s first term has led to substantial, yet little known, progress and cooperation in education, sciences, arts, health, environment, commerce, security and beyond. If that doesn’t continue, the losers will be on both sides…RINA KIRSHNER”   read more

Republican American: Perfectly pointed feet in pink tights plied, frapped and pirouetted across the faux wood floor of a studio at Westover School on Sunday as dancers vied for a chance to train with instructors from Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet Academy this summer. Dancers from across New England auditioned for the three- to six-week summer intensive sponsored by the Russian American Foundation. read more

Chanhassen Villager: On Sept. 29, Michelle, 16, flies to Moscow to attend the prestigious Bolshoi Ballet Academy as a trainee. This summer, Michelle spent six weeks studying ballet with the Bolshoi in New York City. She interviewed for a position as a trainee, and is one of three American students who were invited to train at the Moscow Academy . read more

Denton Record-Chronicle: In October, George Chadick flew to Moscow to train at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy until June. Only four other students from Texas were invited to attend, and he’s among 23 students who accepted their invitations this year. read more

CBS News: A Bolshoi ballerina is headlining this holiday season’s performances of “The Nutcracker” at Westside School of Ballet in this California beach community.Joy Womack, the first American woman to be admitted to the Bolshoi Ballet, was fulfilling a promise that she had made to her mentor, Yvonne Mounsey, a co-founder of the ballet school who died in September. In her last visit with Mounsey last summer, Womack promised to dance the role of the Sugar Plum fairy in the school’s annual holiday ballet. watch video

Herald Standard: With a passion for dance coupled with hard work and a degree of diligence, the 15-year-old from California honed his skill at a number of dance schools — the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Shirley Dean’s School of Ballet and Modern Dance, the Pennsylvania Southern Performing Arts Academy, the Mon Valley Performing Arts Academy and the Fayette School of Ballet. read more

Valley Record: Chloe, the daughter of Wade Heninger and Kristin Bennett of Preston, is well on her way toward that goal, since she began her training with the prestigious Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow last month. She was offered a place in the academy in September, after she unknowingly auditioned for the spot during a three-week camp, the Bolshoi Ballet Academy Summer Intensive, in Connecticut last summer. read more

Vancouver Sun: Earlier this year, Shan auditioned for a spot with the National Ballet School of Canada in Toronto, which told her that, while she danced well, she was, at 5’2”, too short. Her height, however, was not a problem for the Bolshoi, which, after Shan auditioned, awarded her a spot in its annual six-week program in New York this last summer. She did so well there the Bolshoi invited her to continue her studies in Russia. She is the only Canadian among 750 students to be invited to study at the Bolshoi Academy in Moscow this year. read more