The Ukrainian Academy of Ballet proposes itself as the first professional school in Italy of pure VAGANOVA METHOD, making use of highly qualified teachers from the most important European and former Soviet Union theaters, to guarantee the application of a method whose validity is recognized all over the world.
The Ukrainian Academy opens its permanent headquarters at the Teatro delle Erbe in Milan on 23 September 2005. The collaboration with a prestigious institution such as the ISTITUTO delle MARCELLINE starts in the 2006/07 school year, with the aim of offering to its students a complete environment for their professional, human and cultural growth. From a.y. 2007/2008 the Institute becomes the only seat of the Academy and makes it “THE ONLY PROFESSIONAL ACADEMY IN ITALY THAT OFFERS DANCE LESSONS, SCHOOL LESSONS AND BOARDING BOARDING/RESIDENCE (FEMALE AND MEN) WITHIN A SINGLE LOCATION “. The dance lessons are held in the halls of the Institute in via Quadronno and those who wish can attend the lower secondary school and the afternoon linguistic high school both as external and internal students.
There is no doubt the advantage of having in the same building the possibility of attending school, dance lessons, as well as being able to take advantage of an internship without having to undergo stressful transfers, especially for those who live far from Milan.
STARTING FROM APRIL 2021, THE UKRAINIAN ACADEMY HAS EQUIPPED WITH A QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM CERTIFIED ACCORDING TO THE EUROPEAN STANDARD UNI EN ISO 9001:2015.
The AUB director in Italy is Caterina Calvino Prina, while the artistic director is maestro Egor Scepaciov, former principal dancer of the Chisinau Opera House.
The training proposal of the Academy arises from two needs:
⦁ the need to give space and life to particular excellences of the boys
⦁ the desire to be able to give these athletes/artists (in this case, classical dancers) a cultural and, precisely for this reason, human training. Thus was born the collaboration between two different realities: the Marcelline Quadronno Institute of Culture and Languages and the Ukrainian Academy of Ballet.
For this reason, School and Academy are two strongly intertwined realities and “mutually recognize the educational value of their institutional activities, oriented towards the well-being of the human person, in its physical and spiritual components”.
In September 2017, the Ukrainian Academy of Ballet was recognized as a SCHOOL that provides “educational and training services in the areas present in the regulatory structures of the school administration”.
A fundamental goal that falls within the value expressed by the ARTE EDUCATION AND CULTURE project, a project that arises from the sole desire to give a solid cultural and human formation to young people who want to devote themselves to classical dance. The results, over the years, were not long in coming, both in the dance field, with scheduled shows at the Arcimboldi Theater and international tours, and in the school environment, as evidenced by the results of the final exams and, above all, by the State Exams.
Furthermore, the activity of the Ukrainian Academy of Ballet is closely connected to the theatrical activity since its ultimate goal is to train professional dancers.
During repertoire and practice hours, students are asked to work on choreographies
(repertoire and otherwise) which then return, at the discretion of the teachers and the management,
in the program of shows and competitions.
Fundamental policy of the Academy is in fact to give students who distinguish themselves during the year for their commitment and seriousness the opportunity to participate in competitions and events that strengthen their skills and security in what will be their future: the activity theater and confrontation with the public.
The Academy in particular focuses on repertoire work and this has allowed some students to gain professional work experience before graduating.
Every year Andrei Sharaev, director of the Royal Tcech Ballet company, chooses some newly graduated students to participate in the company’s tours, thus guaranteeing the students of the Academy their first work experiences.
From a.y. 2020/2021 the academy finds a second home in the Teatro degli Arcimboldi, a prestigious theater of significant cultural interest, no longer just a stage for staging the annual shows, but also a place of study, thanks to the use of the two rooms ” greatness stage” where the students of the last courses have the possibility to “put themselves on the barrier” for the daily lessons.
The historic “home” of the Academy at the Istituto delle Marcelline, where there are six halls, the lower secondary school, the high school and the boarding school, is flanked by the spaces that the Teatro degli Arcimboldi makes available for carrying out part of the lessons: the theater must in fact be, to all intents and purposes, an integral part of the life of a dancer or in any case of an artist. It’s a matter of creaking beams, hanging ropes, perfumes, atmospheres, in short, a magic that can only be understood by experiencing it firsthand. And for the students of the Academy this magic has now turned into reality.
STUDENT COURSES
The professional school of the Ukrainian Ballet Academy provides an eight-year cycle of studies starting from the 10/11 years.
Admission to the school is subject to an audition and a medical check for the first year.
For admission to subsequent years, an audition, curriculum vitae of previous studies, medical certificates of suitability for professional activity are required.
The activity of the Academy is planned for 10 months (from September to June).
As expected in the strictest training schools in the countries of the former Soviet Union, the courses are divided as follows:
1st year: classical technique, floor barre, historical dances, practice, pointe
2nd year: classical technique, floor barre, historical dances, practice, pointe
3rd year: classical technique, floor barre, historical dances, practice, pointe
4th year: classical technique, pointe, repertoire, contemporary dance
5th year: classical technique, pointe, repertoire, character dance, contemporary dance
6th year: classical technique, pointe, repertoire, pas-de-deux, contemporary dance, character dance
7th year: classical technique, pointe, repertoire, pas-de-deux, contemporary dance, character dance
8th year: classical technique, pointe, repertoire, pas-de-deux, contemporary dance, character dance
Each course is followed by a teacher in the main subjects (classical technique, repertoire, pointe) with the support of other teachers for the minor disciplines (character dance, contemporary dance, etc.)
During the year, the Academy invites internationally renowned lecturers and teachers from the largest theaters in Europe and the world who work for short periods with the students of the various years as guest teachers, giving, with their didactic and professional experience, a great technical and educational contribution.
CONTEMPORARY SECTION
From a.y. 2022/2023 the training offer linked to contemporary dance expands further by increasing the number of hours and structuring itself in such a way as to offer all students the opportunity to study with teachers who offer very different paths and styles, not only during lessons weekly, but also on weekends and intensive weeks. In this way, the expansion of the training prepares the students to face the request of the companies which, precisely in the context of contemporary dance, are increasingly varied and distinguished by styles.
THE SCHOOL
The aspiring dancers, once they have passed the audition, enter, depending on their age, either in the 1st grade secondary school classes (together with the other pupils who do not practice dance) or in the classes of the afternoon Linguistic High School, created specifically for them.
Autonomy provides
⦁ at lower secondary school, the inclusion of a 4th hour of English and the maintenance of the second European language: Spanish, French, German, an acting course included in school hours, a one-hour module on religion and one hour of school choir.
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⦁ at the Liceo Linguistico in the afternoon, the compensation of some hours of motor sciences with hours of dance.
The school timetable foresees, as far as possible, an equitable distribution of study disciplines in the various afternoons of the week, so that the pupils of the lower secondary school are led to organize their own afternoon (and sometimes evening, within certain limits) activities , adequately combining time-study and time-dance.
(www.marcellinequadronno.it/istituto/liceo-linguistico-pomeridiano/)
THE BOARDING BOARD
The national and international vocation of AUB, since its origins, has made it necessary to offer a boarding service for dancers and pupils of the lower secondary school and the afternoon linguistic high school.
Obviously, it is not a question of a mere “logistic arrangement” of the dancers who come from all over Italy and even from abroad. In fact, the boarding school is highly functional to the achievement of the final objective shared by AUB and the Marcellines: to help the dancers, in a serene, committed, highly professional context, to realize their dream linked to dance, together with a humanity worthy of the beauty that they practice and to which they aspire.
The boarding school can currently accommodate about 60 students, from the first to the eighth year of the academy; the students from the first to the fifth year inclusive enjoy a location located directly in the “historic” complex of via Quadronno 15; the older ones, from the sixth to the eighth year, are inserted in the S. Marcellina university residence, also annexed to the school and the dance halls, in via Quadronno 23.
The subdivision is however within the single “coreutic campus”, including dance, school, boarding school, refectory, rooms dedicated to the necessary (albeit brief, given the rhythms of daily life!) relaxation.
The pupils of both sectors are followed by two tutors who work in close synergy with each other and with the heads of the school and the academy (principals, director of AUB, responsible for the Marcellina community of Quadronno).
Any specific information regarding the boarding school as a whole (hours, regulations…) will be provided through the contact details of the Marcelline Institute.
(www.marcellinequadronno.it/contatti/)
UKRAINIAN ACADEMY OF BALLET
Via Quadronno, 15 Milan
c/o ICL Marcelline
Administration and Management:
segreteria@accademiaucraina.it
Ukrainian Ballet Academy as the first school of VAGANOVA METHOD