CULTURE-BRAZIL: Bolshoi School Helps Children Make Social Leap

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 28 2002 (IPS) - Brazilian children are the first to benefit from an effort by the famed Russian Bolshoi Ballet to create dance schools abroad as a tool for cultural diplomacy and social development.

Joinville, an industrial city of 400,000 people in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, was chosen for the first experiment in exporting the methodology of the Russian school, known for its excellence in teaching classical ballet.

In addition to the Bolshoi’s “tradition of quality of 226 years” in the artistic arena, the project plays an important social role, aimed primarily at low-income children in public schools, choreographer Jo Braska Negrao, coordinator of the Bolshoi Theatre School in Brazil (ETBB), told IPS.

The objective is to expand the intellectual and professional horizons of the young students, because someone trained in the Bolshoi method may be admitted to any dance company in the world, said Braska. The students could also become choreographers or cultural promoters, she added.

The philosophy being applied in Brazil is the same that guided the creation in 1776 of the Bolshoi School in Moscow, whose first students were children from an orphanage. The project seeks to use dance to reach out to the poorest sectors of society.

The Bolshoi will set up schools in other parts of the world in the coming years, beginning with Australia.

The selection of Joinville for the Bolshoi’s pioneer effort abroad was due in part to timely conversations between Braska and Joao Prestes, son of Brazil’s historic Communist Party leader Luiz Carlos Prestes. The younger Prestes lived 29 years in Russia and works to build cultural ties between the two countries.

But it was also decisive that Joinville has organised an annual dance festival for the last 20 years, drawing as many as 6,000 dancers from throughout Brazil and neighbouring countries, said Edson Machado, president of the city’s Cultural Foundation.

The ETBB, founded in March 2000, offers eight-year professional courses, and a two-year course for those who already have studied dance. The instructors are from Brazil and from Moscow.

Now in its third year, the school has 286 students, of whom 102 are male. After eight years, when the institution is expected to reach its full capabilities, it could have 700 to 850 students. The total depends on the numbers of dropouts and the abilities of the students, which would affect the number of new admissions, says Braska.

Most of the 80 new dance students admitted each year are selected from among the 24,000 children, ages eight to 10, in the local public school network, who generally come from low-income families.

The competition for one of the 80 spots is intense. The children must have artistic sensitivity and aptitude, but also physical potential, because the goal is to create “true athletes of the stage”, Braska said.

The school also offers opportunities to the talented from distant cities, and makes an effort to attract them to the programme. In the current group of students, some 80 are from other areas of Brazil and three are from other South American countries, according to the ETBB coordinator.

Andreia Velasco de Oliveira, 17, is a typical student. More than a year ago she left her parents behind in Brasilia, 1,500 km away, to “live exclusively for the ballet.”

Her grandmother is accompanying Velasco in her new life in Joinville, where she is attempting to transform herself into the complete ballerina. She dreams of one day interpreting the most important roles of international ballet.

Izadora Muller is also new to the area, though her home in Curitiba is closer. Capital of the state of Paraná, it is just 130 km from Joinville. Muller, 11, had already studied dance before being admitted to the ETBB programme last year.

Her mother, a domestic worker, did not hesitate to move to Joinville with her two daughters. She wanted Izadora to have the chance for a brilliant future. They were able to obtain a sponsor, a company that is confident in Izadora’s talent and is paying for her training.

“My life has completely changed. Now I am a girl who studies more and pays closer attention,” in addition to “showing more affection” for her mother and sister, the young dancer told IPS. She aspires to be a member of a major dance company, “maybe even the Bolshoi of Russia.”

Tiago Felipe Ramos, 10, in his second year at the school, also dreams of being a great dancer. He is from Joinville, and had previously studied piano. Only now, he says, is he appreciating classical music, “which helps with the ballet steps.”

Most of the ETBB students, like Tiago, have scholarships. The school has financial support from the municipal government and from corporate sponsors, the largest of which is the government- run Brazilian Postal Company.

The school has been “excellent” for Joinville, according to city cultural official Machado. It stimulates the city’s cultural life, strengthens the annual dance festival and improves the children’s education, he said.