According to an agreement signed here Tuesday between a professional Russian ballet school and two Harbin-based art schools, the joint ballet school will open in mid-September to Chinese teenagers aged between 10 and 14.

The students have to study in China for four years and spend a fifth year in Russia, before they can take the final exams and receive a diploma by the Russian side.

During the school's first year, the Russian Novosibirsk State Ballet School will send two ballet teachers and one pianist to China.

The class schedule will be Russian-style: six days a week, with students practicing three hours of classical ballet and 90 minutes of modern ballet each day.

(Xinhua News Agency 08/15/2001)