Help Julian, a 16-year-old American dancer, represent the Bolshoi in Sochi

This blog has often championed a good cause: young composers getting their first project off the ground… established composers getting a new project off the ground! Here is a very worthy cause,and an investment in the future of ballet! The young, and very talented, Julian MacKay – who comes from an astonishingly talented family of dancers – is a sixteen-year-old American who is completing his studies at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. When he graduates next year, he will become the first American male dancer to do so.

Now, Julian has been chosen by the Academy to represent them at the Yuri Gregorovich Ballet Competition in Sochi. That's right, they've chosen Julian, not Juri. It is an admirable decision on the Bolshoi's part to choose the best and not a local boy, and Julian, of course, wants to go, but participating costs money!

I am very honored and excited to have been chosen… When I was first invited to attend the Bolshoi Academy 5 years ago, I could have never imagined the amazing journey that life had in store for me.

says Julian on his Go Fund Me presentation.

San Diego-based GoFundMe was launched on May 10, 2010 and has quickly become the World's #1 fundraising site for personal causes and life-events. Hundreds of thousands of people have raised over $310M from 4M donors for the things that matter to them most,

says the blurb; and this competition certainly means a lot to Julian, and probably to balletomanes in the very near future. If Julian goes to Sochi  he will be the only American to participate. He is aiming to raise $3,800, and he explains what the money is for,

Funds will be used for airline tickets and additional coaching and choreographer fees.

Seems reasonable doesn't it! Visit THIS LINK to contribute. In the future you'll be proud you did!

VIDEO: Julian MacKay premiering in his first soloist role on the Bolshoi stage. Featured on the right as one of the two friends in La Fille Mal Gardee. MacKay age 16 is in his fifth year at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. In 2015 MacKay will be the first American Male to graduate from the Bolshoi Academy!

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.