Yana Shkabrova, CI ’19

Bolshoi Ballet Academy Summer Intensive Internship

I am a Conference Interpretation student and I know for a fact that finding an interpretation internship for the summer is not that easy. However, I was lucky enough to find one. This summer I worked for the Russian American Foundation and their Bolshoi Ballet Academy Summer Intensive (BBASI), which is an intensive ballet program where Russian instructors come to the United States (New York City and Connecticut) to teach ballet to American students (age 9-18). The teachers do not speak English, so the program hires interpreters to facilitate instructing during classes. For me personally, it was a very meaningful experience because I got to interpret simultaneously for six weeks six hours a day. The experience was quite different from what our professors teach us at MIIS and from what we are used to, which taught me to be more confident in an unfamiliar setting. First of all, I worked with no equipment, that is why I had to run after the teacher when she was giving feedback while moving around the studio, so I can hear what she was saying. Also, it was very important to interpret loudly, so that the students could hear me over the music and over the noise produced by their pointe shoes. I also interpreted conveying teachers’ emotions, as it helped the students to understand the feedback better. Overall, I had a very positive experience with the BBASI program and I highly recommend it. It takes place every summer, and I think it would be great for MIIS to establish relationships with them and offer the program as an internship opportunity on Zocalo for Russian-English CI and TI students. I would be more than happy to answer any questions and contact BBASI supervisors in order to establish relationships with them.

Back to New York Page