MOSCOW — Among the dozen 15-year-old girls in lavender leotards in Tatyana Galtseva’s class at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, one is different. And it’s not just because of her long, swan-like neck.
She is Harper Ortlieb, an American, who left her small town in Oregon to move to Moscow to follow her dream of becoming a prima ballerina.
The prestigious academy has 84 foreigners among its 721 students, but few are accepted when they are as young as Harper and few are integrated into the regular Russian program.
“She is a very gifted girl. She is all ballet, all inspiration,” Galtseva said. “When children are talented, regardless of their nationality, they are alike in some way in how they approach what they do.”
The Bolshoi took notice of Harper during a summer program it held in Connecticut and offered her a place in the Moscow academy. She knew her teachers would be tough and that it would be a challenge to be so far away from home, but it has been even harder than she expected.
