It has been almost two months since the beginning of self-isolation regime at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. During that time, lives and daily routines of the students have changed dramatically, in line with the circumstances. We have interviewed four students – girls from Macedonia, Japan and Bulgaria. We talked about things they do at their “home theatres” in order to stay fit, things they do in order to maintain mental fitness and things they have missed most of all through the self-isolation time. 

Stefanija Gashtarska, student of III A grade (teacher – Irina M. Pyatkina), starts her training routine at 9 o’clock in the morning. In an hour after the start, she does gymnastics under Boris Knyazev’s method. After that she does a full-fledged lesson (“I do bar exercises, exercises in he middle, jumps and pointe work. In the end I work on my pirouettes and wrap everything up with fouette exercises. Exercises in confined space help an awful lot, and I certainly recommend them to everyone!”. That’s the routine she does every day, except Sunday. “After the class, I usually have online classes in teaching techniques, psychology, Russian language, etc. After that, I dine with my family, Sometimes, Mom and I cook tasty and healthy desserts”. After supper and her homework, Stefanija is sure to do a round of stretching before she goes to bed. In response to the question about things she does to keep her spirit up, she said “I am a naturally merry and cheerful person.  Now I am with my family, and I am very happy about that. So, I see no reason to be blue!”.