Siberian Branch of Moscow State Choreography Academy (MSCA) Visited by the Academy Principal

The Siberian branch was visited by the Principal of the Moscow State Choreography Academy (federal state-owned publicly-funded institution of higher education), Professor Marina Konstantinovna Leonova. General Director of JSC Stroytransgaz-Siberia Sergey Sergeevich Mariinsky showed the Principal around the construction sites of the Siberian Cultural and Educational Complex.

Sergey Sergeevich Mariinsky spoke about the progress of the construction of the Museum and Theatre Educational Complexes. Marina Konstantinovna appreciated the scale of the construction of a branch of the Mariinsky Theatre, on stage of which graduates of the branch of the Moscow State Academy of Arts in Kemerovo will conduct their dancing performances.

M.K. Leonova paid special attention to visiting the branch of the Moscow State Academy of Choreography, where she attended classes for young ballerinas and dancers.

Sergey Sergeevich Mariinsky said that the educational part includes five buildings: an educational building of choreography academy for students, including a training theatre, a boarding school for 150 persons, a music school for 150 students, including a concert hall, and a boarding school for 75 students; comprehensive school with a swimming pool for 300 pupils. The facilities are built together with all required infrastructure and have a total area of about 7 ha.

The General Director of Stroytransgaz-Siberia drew the attention of Marina Konstantinovna to the fact that the infrastructure of the complex was conceived up to the smallest detail, starting with the design of the facade and glazing in the form of a ballet tutu, shaped to act as a sun screen and protect from direct sunlight (which is especially important for dance classes), up to the state-of-the-art equipment for the training theatre, and landscaping of the surrounding area featuring sports and game areas and concert venues.

The Principal of the Moscow State Choreography Academy very carefully examined the boarding school where the students will live in blocks split into two sections, two persons in one room. Four persons will have a common corridor, bathroom and changing room. The boarding school is equipped with a video surveillance system. The Scandinavian design of the rooms provides for different colour finishing for girls and boys. The students there have everything one needs: on each floor there are rooms for self-study, a large hall, ballet classes for independent work to improve performing skills. Nonslip tiles are used on the stairs for safety reasons. Double-tiered handrails are also provided. A medical complex for students is provided for in the boarding school.

After the tour around the branch and the secondary school, Marina Konstantinovna and Sergey Sergeevich visited the classes of young ballerinas and dancers.

‘This is a genuine palace of arts, a 21st century palace!’ M.K. Leonova shared her impressions. ‘Here, children are studying to become the first dancers and ballerinas of the Siberian branch of the Mariinsky Theatre, just as almost 250 years ago, the first graduates of the Academy became the first artists of the Petrovsky Theatre, and later – the Bolshoi Theatre.’

Background info:

The Principal of the Moscow State Choreography Academy (federal state-owned publicly-funded institution of higher education), People's Artist of Russia, laureate of the Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation, PhD in Arts, Professor Marina Konstantinovna Leonova arrived in Kuzbass as an honourable guest to the Charitable Interregional Inclusive Festival-Competition of Choreographic Mastery "WE", the organizer of which is the Board of Trustees in the social sphere of Kuzbass headed by A.E. Tsivileva.

The task to create four new cultural centres (Vladivostok, Kemerovo, South Russia, Kaliningrad) was set by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin in his Address to the Federal Assembly in 2018 and specified in the Executive Order on National Goals and Strategic Objectives of Development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2024.

The project is implemented by Stroytransgaz Group on behalf of the National Cultural Heritage Foundation for Social and Cultural Projects (The founders of the Foundation: Mariinsky Theatre, State Hermitage Museum, Tretyakov Gallery, Bolshoi Theatre.

The following facilities will appear in the city of Kemerovo: The Opera and Ballet Theatre (the branch of the State Academic Mariinsky Theatre); Museum & Exhibition Centre (the branch of Russian Museum); Kuzbass Centre of the Arts, including a cinema and concert complex; Siberian Campus of the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts with the Creative Industries School and a dormitory; Branch of the Moscow State Academy of Choreography; The Siberian Branch of the Central Music School – Academy of Performing Arts with a boarding school and a comprehensive school with two swimming pools, a Museum Depository with a restoration centre, and two houses.

The construction of the Kemerovo Complex project started in 2019. The project was developed by the Austrian firm Coop Himmelb(l)au and adapted for Russian conditions and standards by the Russian designer, GORKA Group.