Young ballet student wins top award

The prestigious Russian Ballet Society Nadine Nicolaeva and Nicolas Legat Memorial Scholarship 2005 has been awarded to Rita Bonello who achieved the highest mark - honours with distinction - in her advanced grade ballet examination among students frequenting the Classical Ballet Schools - Legat System.

Ms Bonello was awarded the scholarship jointly with a British student and is currently studying for her soloist examination at the Olivia Dow School of Russian Ballet, where she had started dancing aged three.

Ms Bonello, 14 enjoys the respect of her peers, many fans, her coach Olivia Dow and Olivia Dow's new Bulgarian assistant Ivelina Dimitrova.

Ms Bonello has been given prominent parts in Ms Dow's ballet productions primarily because of her keen sense of professionalism and enormous ability to perform, even at such a tender age. She is one of the youngest students ever to achieve honours with distinction with the highest mark in the world among students studying the challenging and intensive classical ballet curriculum known as the Legat System.

Ms Bonello is conversant with character dance and is now studying jazz under Ms Dimitrova at the Ms Dow's school in Naxxar.

Last October, all of Ms Dow's candidates for the final advanced grade graduated, three of them obtaining honours with distinction, including Ms Bonello.

The examiner, the president of the Russian Ballet Society of Great Britain, Eunice Biedryski Bartell, said she is delighted with the successes of the Maltese school and often writes favourable articles about its students and performances in her periodical newsletters which are distributed to all the members of the society all over the globe.