When he arrived at the academy, he had to do a control class in order for the academy to determine in which class the new students were to be placed. Taiga was expecting to be placed in the 1st course of the upper school as he had only finished his lower school training, but he was placed in the 2nd course of the upper school under the guidance of Alexey Viktorovich Ilin.

He worked hard and was given an opportunity to successfully audition for the Chinese Dance in the academy’s annual run of The Nutcracker. He was also given the opportunity to dance Trepak, and a doll from act 1, and was cast to dance the Chinese Dance twice out of five performances, one time of which was recorded and subsequently broadcast on television.

After their winter performances, the academy started concentrating on the annual exams. The 2nd course had 4 exams; classical, duet, character and acting. The exams were held from early April to the beginning of May. Taiga was awarded perfect marks in classical and duet exams and was given above average marks for character and acting.

After the classical exam, he was told that the head of the academy decided he would compete in the XIV Moscow International Ballet Competition, which is one of the most prestigious competitions in the ballet world that is held only once every 4 years. He went straight into training for the competition along with the rehearsals for the graduation performances. Taiga had to prepare 6 pieces (2 pieces each for 3 rounds) while rehearsing for the graduation concerts.

The competition was held 3rd – 11th June at The Bolshoi Theatre. It has always been one of Taiga’s biggest dreams to perform there. He won a silver medal in Junior division as one of the youngest competitors at age 16, and danced in the winners’ gala the day after the final round. He was also introduced very favourably throughout the competition by the media.

He befriended dancers both from junior and senior divisions from other schools and those who already dance at companies such as Mariinsky and Bolshoi and enjoyed the experience very much.

After the competition, Taiga returned to the academy and took part in all four of the Vaganova Academy’s graduation performances, dancing in the Classical Symphony and one of the 4 cavaliers in Raymonda, and also was chosen to go on 2 tours with the selected members of the academy. He was also chosen to take part in the on-stage master class on one of the tours.

Taiga is determined to go back to the academy and graduate next Summer.

Thanks to your support and help from the family, we managed to afford Taiga’s first year. Thankfully, he has only 1 year left of the training. Please help Taiga raise the necessary amount to complete his training and graduate from one of the most prestigious schools in the world. No donation is too small, and we would very much appreciate if you spread the word by sharing the link. We will keep posting updates regularly to let you know how he is getting on.

Please find below the videos of Taiga from The Nutcracker, the annual exam and the competition. There are more in updates!

Thank you for your continuous support and help.

If you don’t know how Taiga was inspired to start ballet, please read below the stories of some exciting experiences that inspired him.

How Taiga started ballet:

Taiga first started learning ballet and performing in shows when he was 9 years old, but he was not interested in dancing professionally until 2016 when, aged 11, he watched the Bolshoi Ballet on tour in London.

When he came out of the theatre, his life had changed and he said he had to do ballet and that was what he wanted to do with his life.

He did 5 or 6 ballet classes, several show rehearsals and repertoire / pas de deux classes every week and took great pleasure in dancing on stage at every opportunity.

He was accepted at Elmhurst Ballet School (associated with the Birmingham Royal Ballet) in 2018 into the third year of the lower school. He made up for his late start by hard work.

Taiga won second place in his age group at the Europe in Dance Grand Prix in 2021.

Taiga followed and studied many great dancers of today, which eventually resulted in them noticing him. When Taiga went to watch a gala, Artem Ovcharenko, a principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet recognised him from social media and gave him kind words, encouragement and advice. He told him never to give up and to pursue his dreams. These words are still keeping Taiga driven to this day.

A fair few other professional dancers see potential in Taiga and have been actively encouraging him on his journey. One such person is Igor Tsvirko, a leading soloist of the Bolshoi Ballet. Not only does he keep encouraging Taiga, but went so far as giving him some personal coaching via messages and video calls.

Taiga has been offered a place at the Vaganova Ballet Academy starting September 2021. He is hoping to stay and graduate from their upper school.

The target is the cost of the fees for one year. There will of course be other costs to be met such as flights to Russia and uniform, etc. If we exceed the target, any surplus will go towards future years' training.

Please help Taiga achieve his dreams of dancing on the world stage. No donation is too small. Taiga will keep updating you on his journey on his Instagram.

Taiga's Instagram