Local ballerina leaves Larchmont for Moscow State Theater
A young Windsor Village resident has been offered a position at the Moscow State Theater of Russian Ballet.
Matisse Love, 17, will begin dancing in Moscow this month under the artistic direction of Vyacheslav Gordeyev.
“I’m really excited,” says Love. “It will be a great opportunity to travel and experience new cultures.”
A former student of Marat Daukayev School of Ballet, Love credits the local Miracle Mile studio for preparing her for such an honor.
“I have always admired Marat, who is from St. Petersburg,” she says. “I trained with him for 10 years. And because I was Russian-trained, I knew Russian techniques very well.”
Love left Los Angeles two years ago to study at the Bolshoi Academy in Moscow, where she quickly caught the eye of the school’s dance teachers.
“I was so scared,” she says of her first few days in Russia. “I’d never been out of the country; I had never even seen snow!”
It took Love over a year before she could communicate in Russian, making her first weeks of classes very difficult: “I remember shaking on the first day because I didn’t know what to do. Luckily, ballet is a universal language, so when my teachers would hit my leg, I knew I had to do something with that leg.”
Regardless of a language barrier, Love stayed focused on her training, which she says can occasionally get “emotional” and “hard.”
All that hard work paid off. After the first year of the academy, she was invited to join the “Company Class” — a privilege reserved for the most advanced dancers.
“They only asked the top students,” Love told the Chronicle. “Three of us were invited,” she says proudly. “I was dancing next to the main principals of the ballet.”
In order to graduate from the Bolshoi Academy, Love was expected to take part in a final “state exam,” where she danced in front of all of the company’s directors.
After the exam, Love learned she was being considered for a position at the Moscow State Theater of Russian Ballet: “They liked me and wanted to see me dance again,” she says. After that second performance, she was offered a position.
“Oh God! It felt like all of my hard work was finally being recognized,” Love says of the experience.
The position comes with an apartment in Moscow, but Love has been told she won’t have a lot of free time.
“One of my teachers told me that I should be in good shape when I arrive because I’ll be dancing straight away. I think it’s going to be a challenging year,” she says.
Although she is not completely sure what the next year will bring her way, Love says she is just looking forward to dancing professionally.
“Larchmont is the best. I grew up here and I love it here. But the company told me I’m going to be busy, so I have no idea when I’ll be back.” Until then, best of luck!
Category: Entertainment