By Nanette Light

entertainment editor

In Russia, patrons pack a theater for the ballet like it's the Superbowl.

"Instead of going to a football game, people go to the ballet," said Peter Zhmutski, originally from the former Soviet Union, who opened with his wife, Yulia, a professional ballerina, Julia's Academy of International Dance, 315 W. Main St. The academy is named after their 6-month-old daughter Julia and opened in August.

In fact, Peter first saw Yulia, who trained at the National School of Dance and Choreography in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, for eight years, as she leapt and twirled across stage in a ballet performance.

And now Yulia, who performed ballet professionally in Russia, is bringing this royal ballet, named for its beginnings as a performance for royalty and infamous for its strict adherence to technique, to Norman.

With only a few English phrases and her husband as a translator, Yulia, who moved to the United States a year ago after marrying Peter, teaches several one-on-one ballet classes. The academy also offers Zumba, ballroom, belly dance and modern dance.

While the school is one of the newest additions on the block, to the couple's surprise, it's already attracting statewide attention.

In September at the Sooner Theatre, during the third annual Destined 2 Dance Awards, which highlights dancers in the Southwest region, the school won Studio of the Year and Yulia was recognized for Best Technical Dance Instructor and for her flamenco and belly dance routines, Best Foreign and Cultural Dance.

For Yulia, however, who rebounded from an injury resulting in her expulsion from the school early in her training, battling the odds isn't an unusual feat.

When Yulia was learning to dance on her toes, she was improperly fitted for her pointe shoes. While the shoe is meant to be tight and uncomfortable, her shoes were unbearably painful, so she cut them to make them more suitable for her foot, fraying the edges and eventually twisting her ankle.

At the end of the year, when she performed her pointe routine for the school, she received a failing grade because her feet seemed too weak to go over the shoe when she tried to pirouette -- twirl -- or releve -- rise -- on her toes.

She trained obsessively during the summer and was readmitted to the school the following year.

"Even if you are good, you have to go out there and prove it everyday," Yulia said.

Because Russian ballet relies more heavily on technique than other ballets, emphasizing the importance of other elements, like the turn of the head, raise of the arm and even a wink, to the harmony of the dance, Yulia has had to reteach the technique for most of these transfers, Peter said.

Yulia also knows there are other obstacles when it comes to dance, such as financial obligations. So with their own money, she and Peter have created three scholarships for children with a passion for dance. Peter said the scholarships not only provide unforeseen opportunities, but keep dancers disciplined and enforce attendance, since they are being held to a standard not only by their own will but someone else's dollar.

Peter said eventually the duo would like to find sponsors for the company that would help pay for performance and competition fees and costumes.

"To learn dancing, its pretty expensive, if you want to do it seriously," said Peter, after reading the list of scholarships, which draws its money pot from the couple's own pockets. "We've seen a lot of talented students, and we want to give them an opportunity, like Yulia was given."