page_title: Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet
section_title: Vaganova
hierarchical_section_title: Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet / Vaganova
caption_attribution_description: English: Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, Saint Petersburg, Russia, main entrance.
context_page_description: The Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet is a school of classical ballet in St Petersburg, Russia. Established in 1738 during the reign of Empress Anna, the academy was known as the Imperial Ballet School until the Soviet era, when, after a brief hiatus, the school was re-established as the Leningrad State Choreographic Institute. In 1957, the school was renamed in honor of the pedagogue Agrippina Vaganova, who cultivated the method of classical ballet training that has been taught there since the late 1920s. Many of the world's leading ballet schools have adopted elements of the Vaganova method into their own training.
  The Vaganova Academy is the associate school of the Mariinsky Ballet, one of the world's leading ballet companies. Students of the school have found employment with ballet and contemporary companies worldwide, such as the Bolshoi Ballet, The Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and the Mikhailovsky Ballet.
context_section_description: Agrippina Vaganova brought perhaps the most important developments in modern Russian Ballet.  She graduated from the Imperial Ballet School in 1897 and danced with the Imperial Ballet, retiring from the stage early to pursue her teaching career following the Revolution.  As the Soviet government had not yet re-established the school, Vaganova began her teaching career at the privately owned School of Russian Ballet, eventually joining the new Leningrad State Choreographic School in 1920.  Vaganova was to become a highly renowned ballet teacher and is most noted for authoring The Principles of Classical Dance, which outlines the training system she created and which heads the list of the numerous works produced by teachers of the school.
  Vaganova's students would become some of the most famous ballet dancers of all time, and in recognition of her achievements, the school was named in her honour in 1957, six years after her death.  There are a number of variations in the name of the school, but the official title in current use in the English-speaking world is Vaganova Ballet Academy.
caption: Medium close-up of the main entryway.
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