Are You Sabotaging Your Summer Intensive Audition?

Pointe Magazine: An audition is a first impression, and you want to look your best. Rina Kirshner, Director of the Russian American Foundation’s Bolshoi Ballet Academy Programs, looks for dancers who “stand out through hard work and talent.” Read More

My Unforgettable NSLI-Y Experience

NSLIY Interactive: It all began at the JFK Airport when our group of thirteen in matching green t-shirts waited anxiously for the plane. I remember thinking before I got on the plane to Russia, “this is really happening.” It was going to be my first time abroad and I was anxious but excited not knowing what Russia held for me. Read More

Local ballerina returns from summer training in Russia

Free Lance-Star: For Catherine Cata, the worlds of ballet and international relations share a deeply entwined relationship. This summer, the 17-year-old ballerina traveled to Moscow in the joint role of ballerina and diplomat to study language, culture and ballet for six weeks at the prestigious Bolshoi Ballet Academy. Read More

Teen rewarded for Russian study abroad

The Acorn: Lindsay Wu, a high school student from Westlake Village, was recently awarded a National Security Language Initiative for Youth scholarship for 2017-18 by the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Read More

Colonial Forge Student Studies Ballet in Moscow

Inside Now : Catherine Cata was awarded a U.S. Department of State NSLI-Y Russian Language and Culture Full Scholarship six-week summer program to Moscow, Russia. The Russian American Foundation scholarship included: travel expenses, Russian language instruction and immersion program, ballet training with teachers of Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet Academy and more. Read More

ART BEAT: 16-year-old Suwanee Student Accepted at Prestigious Russian Ballet Academy

Gwinnett Daily Post: He’s only 16, but Tamon Uruno has already been recognized for a rare artistic gift and offered a huge opportunity in the international world of ballet. A student at Royal Dance Academy in Suwanee, young Uruno is setting his sights on studying in Moscow, Russia, in 2018. Read More

Meet the US-Born Dancer Rising the Ranks in Russia

Dance Magazine – MacKay was the first American to graduate from both the lower and upper schools of Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet Academy. He was invited to train there after a summer Bolshoi intensive in the U.S., and ended up staying six years. Read More

Dance takes Seabeck teen to Russia

Kitsap Sun:  Emilie Scott went to NYC for three weeks of intensive dance study with instructors from the famed Bolshoi Ballet. From there, Scott — the recipient of an NSLI for Youth scholarship administered through the U.S. Department of State, the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs and the Russian American Foundation — flew to Russia for six more weeks of dance and language immersion. Read More

From Russia with love: Aiken dancer spends summer studying ballet with the Bolshoi

Aiken Standard:  Aiken Civic Ballet dancer Sydney Maddox, 17, spent part of last summer and this summer in New York City for a dance intensive with instructors from the Bolshoi Ballet. This year, she took the experience – and her studies – a step further and also trained at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow. Read More

From Russia With Love- With A New York State Of Mind

The Huffington Post: Once you get past the hustle and bustle, fast pace moving spirit of the city life of being in New York, it will take you no time to call it home. New York City by itself is something special. This beautiful metropolis is home to some 19,378,102 people from various ethnic backgrounds. Read More

Russian Heritage Month Observed

Voices of NY: In mid-July, the Russian American Foundation wraps up its 15th annual Russian Heritage Month celebrations in New York City. Exhibits, performances, readings and other events mark the annual festival, which aims, according to the foundation to show “the legacy and achievements of the First, Second and Third Waves of the Russian-speaking émigrés from former Soviet Republics to the United States. Read More

This Foundation Has a Global Vision for the Future

The New York Post: In today’s political climate, coming together as a people, not bound by race, color or gender, is more important than ever. One organization has been striving to bridge the gap between cultures for 20 years, and it’s right here in our own back yard. Over the past 20 years, the Russian American Foundation (RAF) has aimed to connect people of all backgrounds through a variety of shared interests and values. Read More

Trumbull dancer is bound for Bolshoi

Trumbull Times: Trumbull student Ben Boveroux, 15, will study ballet with the Bolshoi Ballet Academy Summer Intensive, featuring instruction from teachers of the Bolshoi Academy in Moscow. For six weeks, Ben will be immersed in a program taught in Russian (with the help of translators) that will focus on precision of technique. Read More

Dayla goes to the Bolshoi Dance Academy (Australia)

The Examiner: A ballet dancer has pirouette her way into a six-week placement that no other Tasmanian has ever been offered. Dayla Bowman, 12, will fly to the US in June to participate in a workshop with the Bolshoi Dance Academy Intensive Program, specifically designed to increase individual progress. Read More