Moscow

I was in Moscow for a long rainy weekend at the end of August this year– not long enough to figure out the dance school scene.  After a day and a half at the exciting Tratyakov Gallery's Central House of Artists , just north of Gorky Park I attended a floor barre class at a place called 5Life.  The class was taught by a woman called Svetlanna, and it was incredibly thorough and focused on classical ballet technique for detailed work on turnout and positioning.  Through the open door to the next studio though I could see a woman working on her pole dancing routine and truly I wondered what kind of establishment I had stumbled upon.  In any case Svetlanna knew what she was doing, clearly she had years of serious Russian ballet training and knew how to communicate it to an adult audience.  We need more classes like this in the world.