The fourth Choreography Session of Innopraktika School was over at the Boris Eifman Dance Academy in Saint Petersburg. For three weeks its participants were able to create unique choreographic miniatures, which were presented on July 20 at the final gala concert.

206 candidates from 38 countries applied for the session this year. Only 10 dancers and two choreographers from China, the Philippines, Nigeria, India, South Korea, Dominican Republic, Vietnam, and North Macedonia were able to pass the rigorous selection process.

For three weeks, they attended classical ballet and modern dance classes, as well as iconic places in Saint Petersburg, getting to know each other and Russian culture.

As part of the cultural program, the session participants visited the Mariinsky and Mikhailovsky Theaters, the Hermitage, and Peterhof. They met the students of the art session of Innopraktika School, visited the exhibition of its final works at the Academy of Fine Arts. A large multinational team was able to catch the night draw of bridges and visit the Peter and Paul Fortress with a guided tour.

The main task of the Choreography Session was to create performances that answer the question of how to make the right choice between one's own values and the stereotypes of the outside world. The result of this creative collaboration was eight dance performances. Russian choreographers Anastasia Peshkova, Olga Labovkina, Olga Tsvetkova and Boris Shipulin worked with foreign dancers, while two foreign choreographers Hanze Zhang and Chang Liu created performances with students of the Boris Eifman Dance Academy.

What made this year's Choreography Session special was the new experience the participants gained. Vietnamese student Dinh Bao Bao Nguyen performed not only as a dancer, but also presented an ethnic performance with elements of mythology that he created himself, at the gala concert. And choreographer Hanze Zhang took part in the performance of his Russian colleague as a performer.

"The Choreography Session of Innopraktika School was held at our Academy for the fourth time. And the bright artistic fruits of this wonderful project, presented on July 20 at the final gala concert, proved once again: the dance is a language that recognizes no barriers and is able to establish living spiritual ties between representatives of different cultures. That is why it is so important to continue to continuously develop a professional dialogue that brings together world figures of choreographic art and synthesizes their creative experience", said Boris Eifman, Artistic Director of the Choreography Session.

All performances were included in the program of the gala concert, which was presented on July 20 on the stage of the Boris Eifman Dance Academy Theatre.

The final performance of the program, which involved all concert participants, was created by choreographer Allen Xing. Allen is a graduate of Innopraktika School's 2022 Choreography Session, and today he is the leader of the Academy's Modern Dance Department.

An unusual gift to Innopraktika School was prepared by Valeria Leiba and Artem Meltishinov, students of the Dance Academy; that was a dance performance where they acted both as choreographers and performers.

The most important thing is that both participants and organizers were inspired by the resulting creative process. This means that multinational cooperation will continue, the performances will "live", and the audience will be able to see and enjoy the dance miniatures created.