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Late Bloomer Is Off to Soviet Union for Dance Training

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For years, the closest thing to a cultural exchange program between the Soviets and the West were the one-way flights to freedom that Baryshnikov and other Soviet superstars took to defect.

Many aspiring dancers have dreamed of training at Russia’s internationally acclaimed ballet schools, but it was a foregone conclusion that Americans need not apply.

The picture has brightened considerably since glasnost began to ease East-West relations.

A promising Los Angeles dancer, Michael Shannon, was accepted as a scholarship student to the most prestigious of all ballet institutions, the Bolshoi Academy (he performed in San Diego with other recent graduates of the school a few weeks ago).

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And now, an 18-year-old San Diego dancer, Calvin Kitten, is among the first American exchange students heading off to Soviet Georgia for a year of study at the Tbilisi Choreographic Institute.

“I’m so excited, I don’t believe it,” said the California Ballet- trained dancer. “I was real excited when Maxine (Mahon, director of the San Diego-based ballet school) told me I was selected. But sometimes I don’t think I’m the best one to go. I’m not real sure if I can even keep up with the Soviet students.”

Kitten, a late bloomer in the ballet world, did not even begin serious dance training until three years ago. His role as the Nutcracker Prince in Cal Ballet’s 1987 production of “The Nutcracker” was his first experience on the stage.

Kitten’s diligence helped him snare the student-of-the-year award from the school this summer, by vote of the faculty and advanced students. His mentor has no doubt that the small, dark-haired dynamo is destined for stardom.

“He has talent and a future,” said Mahon. “That’s the reason I told the people at the Tbilisi school to take him on as an exchange student. He’s only a baby. He’s just 18 years old. They can teach him a lot.”

As Mahon pointed out, “the faculty at the Tbilisi Institute is excellent. One of the teachers has taught some of the leading dancers in the Soviet Union.”

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And the Russians can give Kitten one thing the California Ballet school cannot offer--male role models.

“I learned a lot here from Maxine and the other teachers,” Kitten noted, “but there are no male dance teachers and there are no male students my age. There are some older men in the company and a lot of young kids at the school, but not many around my age.”

“That’s the reason I want him to go,” said Mahon. “A boy needs male teachers and other male dancers. I teach a great deal of the Russian style, but he’ll really advance when he gets to work with the Russian men and learn the male solos.

“He’s just not going to get the kind of attention this provides anywhere else, or the exposure to other boys his age,” said Mahon. “Going to school in the Soviet Union--so far from home--will help him grow up too. He’s pretty scared now, and this experience should make him more independent.”

“I’ve never been away from home before,” Kitten admitted, “and I know I won’t be able to come back or see anyone from home all year. But I’ve worked very hard for this, and I’m happy to be chosen.”

Kitten was always gung-ho about his dance training, but since he was tagged for the exchange program, which will run until June, he stepped up his regime to a dogged pace.

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“I used to take about five classes a week, but now I’m cramming in about nine a week,” he said, “just to get ready. And I’m trying to prepare for the cultural stuff by reading a lot, but it will be such a big change.

“I’m taking Russian and I can more or less read it, but I never even ate Russian food before.”

There is one shock Kitten cannot even hope to prepare for, and it may be the dancer’s biggest concern as he packs his tights for the trip.

“I think I’m going to get sick in Soviet Georgia because I’ve never lived in a cold climate, and I’m just not used to it,” he said, with a nervous laugh. “I’m taking plenty of warm clothing.

“At least I’ll be living with a family . . . so that’s good. And I think there are two girls from South Carolina going also.”

Mahon has several contacts in the Soviet Union after years of participation in international competitions and arranging guest appearances by Soviet dancers for her ballet company.

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“I have friends in Tbilisi, including a famous composer who lives there and speaks English,” she said. “I’m sure they’ll look in on him, but nobody will be there to hold his hand.”

Dancing is the most important thing in Kitten’s life these days. But after his ground-breaking year in the USSR, the recent Santana High School graduate expects to continue the academic education that got put on hold when this golden opportunity presented itself.

“I know I want to go to college,” he said. “I haven’t made up my mind what to major in yet, but I really want to go.”

If Mahon has any influence on her most promising student, Kitten will return to the nest to scratch out a living in San Diego.

“We hope to keep him right here with the company,” she said, “and I think we can, if we can provide a salary for him. We have to make headway on that problem (paying the dancers) if we don’t want to lose another good dancer.”

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