Ballerina Mairi Bell was chosen for a position with a prestigious Russian ballet academy.

The academy has produced a veritable who's-who of ballet superstars, including Rudolph Nureyev, Natalia Makarova, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Vaslav Nijinksy and Anna Pavlova.

Bell was invited to the school by its director, Altynai Asylmuratova, following her five-month dancing residency in Oslo, Norway.

She started dancing at age 4, under the mentorship of John Landovsky and Gina Surles at Hawaii State Ballet, and in recent years has competed in international ballet competitions in Bulgaria, Kiev and New York.