19-year-old Vaganova Ballet Academy student fights for her life

Nikolay Tsiskaridze is in town with two of his star pupils from the Vaganova Academy. Eleonora Sevenard and Egor Gerashchenko are surely future stars that will be seen increasingly over the coming years. Tsiskaridze was running up and down the aisle at La Scala yesterday, making sure that the tempi were just right and that his students had the best possible conditions to perform well, representing the Vaganova, in a charity gala in Milan on Wednesday. He is obviously passionate about his job and his pupils.

One of his flock though is fighting for her life.

Karina Soldatova 2

Karina Soldatova

Karina Soldatova, a 19-year-old Vaganova Ballet Academy student, was diagnosed with leukaemia last year. Her family managed to raise enough money to pay for her chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. Late last year, it was reported that the cancer had gone into remission.

In the last few days it was confirmed that Karina is once again battling with cancer. She is awaiting a second bone marrow transplant at the Klinikum Augsburg Hospital in Germany. The procedure and the subsequent treatment will cost €160,000. Less than a week ago the family had €96,000 and it was announced today that the remaining €64,000 has been raised already (1 June was the deadline) which guarantees her further treatment.

The collection will continue however, as future treatment and care will be necessary. There are various ways to help:

Direct donations

Sberbank Russia account: card number 4276 5500 4606 3262. Please make the note: “For Karina Soldatova”

Yandex Money: 4100 1400 367 2106

PayPal: help-karina-soldatova@yandex.ru

Buy a photo

The Russian ballet photographer Darian Volkova is offering prints for sale, and all proceeds will go to Karina's fund.

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.