Yateley’s Henry Perkins makes history becoming the first Briton to graduate from the world famous Bolshoi Ballet Academy

Henry Perkins is the first Briton to graduate from the famous Bolshoi Ballet Academy and comes from Yateley.  Henry won a place at the renowned Bolshoi Ballet and was only second British boy to be accepted for training.  On Friday he became the first to graduate after four years of intensive ballet training.  As well as spending 40 hours a week at dance classes, Henry needed to learn Russian and attend academic lessons.  Needless to say he is now fluent in Russian.

The Bolshoi Ballet Academy was established in 1773 and is one of the oldest and most established schools for classical ballet training, with some of the best dancing facilities in the world.  Henry’s parents needed to raise over £50,000 to pay for his training and wrote to over 1,200 individuals and charities for donations and sponsorship.  All the hard work has now paid off!  Congratulations!

Over the years Henry’s progress has been covered in the press and been the subject of a BBC programme three years ago presented by Alan Yentob about his first year at the ballet school. 

Henry's success as reported by the Daily Telegraph and an article from the Guardian four years ago as Henry was first accepted by the Bolshoi.  Also the BBC report on Henry's success.