06 | Inspire Excellence
THROUGH THE EYES OF A DANCER Living her Dream at Bolshoi Ballet Academy Canadian International School of Hong Kong (CDNIS) is well known for the support that it affords its students, providing them with the tools, expertise and opportunities to help them successfully pursue their interests. This was certainly the case for CDNIS alum Maya McKeever who developed her passion in ballet here before moving to Moscow in 2016 to attend the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. As one of the oldest and most prestigious schools of ballet in the world, the Bolshoi Ballet Academy has produced some of the most revered dancers of our time, including the likes of Olga Lepeshinskaya, Raisa Struchkova, and Natalia Bessmertnova. According to Maya, she had practiced ballet ever since she was three, but it wasn’t until she was 15 when she decided to focus her efforts in pursuing it professionally. “It was in 2015 that I was accepted into a summer school programme at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York, and a scholarship offered by CDNIS actually helped me to gain entry into it. By the end of the two-week programme, I knew that this was what I wanted to do.” To the CDNIS alum, ballet is a way to express herself emotionally. While she admits that expressing herself vocally is not one of her strengths, practicing ballet allows her to channel whatever she is feeling. Maya also credits CDNIS for helping her develop skills that have proved useful in the field she’s studying today. Having joined the school in Grade 4 and stayed until Grade 10, the ballet dancer believes she truly benefitted from the CDNIS community.
“I used to take part in quite a lot of school events back in the day, including CDNIS Got Talent. I remember performing duets a number of times. The first time, my partner and I made it to the finals while we managed to win the competition the second time we partnered together. So that was very special.”
The positive experience of her stint at the Joffrey Ballet School would have a profound impact on her, and she began actively looking for further opportunities within the field. “The Bolshoi Ballet Academy came to Hong Kong last year and did a summer school. This proved to be very handy, as I had spent much of the year applying to ballet schools,” said Maya.