Apogee Honors the Traditions of the Perm Ballet School with Twelve Excellence Awards and an International Exchange
The Apogee Foundation today announced that it had granted its Achievement Award to Ninel Silvanovich, one of Russia's most revered ballet instructors, and in her honor also awarded the top students in Ms. Silvanovich's graduating class with special editions of the Foundation's Rising Star Award. In recognition of the Perm School's unique traditions, Apogee also announced the creation of an international exchange program serving to perpetuate this institution's historic influence on the world of ballet.
London and Perm (PRWEB) May 30, 2006 -- The Apogee Foundation is providing three Excellence Awards to Ninel Danilovna Silvanovich and the top two students in her graduating class at the Perm State Ballet School. Ms. Silvanovich's historic teaching career at the Perm School spans more than 50 years, in the course of which she has incorporated and passed on the greatest traditions of ballet's "Russian School".
Ms. Silvanovich received her own training in St. Petersburg under some of the most celebrated instructors in history, including Agrappina Vaganova, who is credited with the invention of the "Russian School". She subsequently began her own teaching career under the direction of the Perm School's founder, Ekaterina Geidenreikh. During the ensuing half century, Ms. Silvanovich has preserved and passed on the greatness of these traditions to hundreds of students and instructors in Perm and throughout Russia.
Apogee's Achievement Award is designated for instructors and directors who have consistently realized the potential of elite performing artists throughout the course of their life work. The special edition of the Foundation's Achievement Award provided to Ms. Silvanovich is titled the "Geidenreikh Honorarium for Excellence in Education", in recognition and in honor of the Perm's School's historic traditions.
In further recognition of Ms. Silvanovich's lifetime of achievement, the Foundation simultaneously provided its Rising Star Award to Ms. Silvanovich's top two graduating students in Perm's Class of 2006: Marina Shirinkina and Anna Scherbakova. Apogee's Rising Star Award is designated for world class artists reaching the apogee of human excellence at an early stage in their professional careers. Shortly after being selected for these awards, Ms. Shirinkina was engaged to perform with the Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet in St. Petersburg for the coming season, while Ms. Scherbakova received offers from the major ballet companies in Moscow, Perm, Ekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk and Minsk.
Both Ms. Shirinkina and Ms. Scherbakova were recipients of Apogee Merit Scholarships from the earliest years of their training in Perm. Their ongoing success again demonstrates the aim and the ability of the Foundation to identify gifted artists at the early stages of their careers and to successfully foster their development.
Detailed information describing Apogee's award programs in both the English and Russian languages can be found on the Foundation's website at: http://www.ApogeeFoundation.org/awards/index.php and http://www.ApogeeFoundation.org/r_awards/r_index.php
These awards bring the number of Excellence Awards provided at the Perm State Ballet School for the 2005/2006 academic year to a total of eight student scholarships, two artist grants, and two faculty awards. The total number of such awards provided by the Foundation to laureates of the Perm School since 1999 now totals over 50 student scholarships, 6 artist grants, and 10 faculty awards. Each of these awards includes an element of financial assistance as well as ongoing career support.
For more information on other Excellence Award laureates recognized by the Foundation during Perm's 2005/2006 academic year, please refer to the Foundation's earlier press release: http://www.apogeefoundation.org/awareness/2005-2006/student_scholarships.php
While making these awards, to further honor Perm's unique traditions and historic influence on the world of ballet, Apogee also announced that it had agreed with the administrations of both Russia's Perm Ballet School and Britain's Royal Ballet School to provide Perm's most gifted student the opportunity to study abroad during the coming academic year to unite these leading Eastern and Western traditions. Unanimously selected for this opportunity by the Foundation, the Perm School and the Royal Ballet School was Vadim Muntagirov, a student in his sixth year of training in Perm. The Foundation identified Mr. Muntagirov's professional promise in the very first year of his training in Perm and provided him with Apogee Merit Scholarships in every year of his study there. In November of 2005, the Foundation further bestowed upon Mr. Muntagirov its highest form of student recognition: naming him an Apogee World Scholar.
Apogee World Scholars are selected when students attain indisputably world class status, and are eligible for a full spectrum of assistance from Apogee Management which is designed to optimize not only their opportunities for ongoing training but also their long term career prospects. Within a few months of being named an Apogee World Scholar, Mr. Muntagirov became one of the youngest recipients ever of each of the following prizes at major international competitions: (1) the President's Prize at the Priz de Lausanne in Switzerland, (2) the Grand Prize in the Kazan International Ballet Competition, and (3) second prize at the Perm International Ballet Competition, where he was a decade younger than the Mariinsky soloist taking the first prize.
For more information on Vadim Muntagirov, please see the career website created and maintained by Apogee on his behalf: http://www.muntagirov.com
Ludmila Shevchenko, Director of the Perm State Ballet School, said: "Our long term partnership with Ken Schneider and the Apogee Foundation has made an enormous difference for our students, graduates and faculty. We welcome this partnership not only for what it means to our most talented participants while training within the walls of our School, but also for the difference it makes in their lives and careers on the world stage."
Apogee President Kenneth Schneider said: "The Perm Ballet School has historically been one of the crown jewels of the Russian performing arts world, and we are proud to have formed such a productive partnership with its administration and faculty for such a long period of time. It is a privilege for us to be able to recognize and assist them in carrying on their institution's illustrious traditions."
To view this news release with full photographic content as well as in printer friendly format, and to obtain translations into other languages as they become available, please refer to the Foundation's website: http://www.apogeefoundation.org/awareness/
2005-2006/perm_awards_exchange.php
About the Perm State Ballet School
The Perm School was founded in 1941, when Russia's leading ballet company and school were evacuated to Perm from Leningrad---bringing with them such dance luminaries as Natalia Dudinskaya, Konstantin Sergeyev and Galina Ulanova as well as other artists of historic significance such as composer Sergei Prokofiev. From that time until the turn of the century, Perm remained one of Russia's three leading ballet training institutions and the foremost school of its kind in central Russia.
About The Apogee Foundation ®
The Apogee Foundation began activities in Russia in 1997 and was incorporated in the United States in 2004 as a New York based not-for-profit corporation. Apogee is dedicated to the development of human excellence in the performing arts. It supports cultural institutions and individual artists, providing administrative, promotional, and financial support to help talented individuals achieve their full potential, and enabling this potential to be showcased to the world.
Contact
The Apogee Foundation
Kenneth Schneider, President
1001 Avenue of the Americas, 12th Floor
New York, NY 10018-5411 (USA)
+1.646.461.6196 or +1.888.APOGEE.8
Fax: +1.646.292.5101
www.ApogeeFoundation.org
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