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November 10, 1998

This week's dancer of the week is a very young dancer, fifteen-year-old Maria Bystrova of the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C., who was awarded the Princess Grace Scholarship for 1998. The Princess Grace Scholarship, named in honor of Princess Grace of Monaco, is awarded annually to students in their last year of schooling in the fields of theater, dance and film.

Maria Bystrova began her studies at the Kirov Academy of Ballet at age 11.  She was introduced to ballet by her mother, Tatiana Renko, when she was five years old and living in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Maria auditioned for, and was accepted by, the Vaganova School of the Academy of Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg when she was 9.  She studied there for two years, then transfered to the Kirov Academy in Washington, D.C. at the invitation of Oleg Vinogradov.

This year, Maria was also awarded the William Como Dance Magazine Scholarship and competed at the Jackson International Ballet Competition.   In addition to ballet, Maria loves math and history.  She has a 4.0 grade point average.