"The children found it interesting!" Russian Ballet Academy senior teacher on a master class for gymnasts

Yulia Kasenkova, senior teacher at the Vaganova Russian Ballet Academy shared her impressions of the master class for our athletes.

"I have an absolutely amazing impression. It’s simply beautiful here, grandiose, excellent conditions, space, beauty, cleanliness, everything was built here with great taste, large spacious halls with absolutely stunning conditions. Now we held a master class, a lesson. There were our students and girls from your Academy, and it was, of course, a very interesting experience. Because the specifics are still somewhat different. Everything here is very inverted, your steps are amazing, your flexibility, jumping, and rotations are phenomenal. It was very interesting for the children to look at each other and exchange experiences. I understand that something was probably difficult for them and maybe they were seeing it for the first time, but they coped with it superbly, thought very well, listened very carefully. And I think it was an amazing experience for all of us. It was very interesting. I hope the kids liked it," Yulia said.

She also compared ballet and rhythmic gymnastics.

"Ballet is one of the art forms, yes, and rhythmic gymnastics is generally speaking, a sport. But at the same time, it seems to me that this is one of the most beautiful sports with the presence of internal content. That is, it can also be attributed in some way to art, because here there are such beautiful programs to music, they also create a certain image, despite the fact that everything here is built on the beauty of the body. This is a step, and also an extended rise, and drooping shoulders. And I'm always impressed by the way they work with objects," Yulia said.