The Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet is a school of classical ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Established in 1738 during the reign of Empress Anna, the academy was known as the Imperial Ballet School up until Soviet times, when, after a brief hiatus, the school was re-established as the Leningrad State Choreographic Institute. In 1957, the school was renamed in honor of the renowned pedagogue Agrippina Vaganova, who cultivated the method of classical ballet training that has been taught there since the late 1920s. Graduates of the school include some of the most famous ballet dancers, choreographers and teachers in history and many of the world's leading ballet schools have adopted elements of the Vaganova method into their own training.These include George Balanchine, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolf Nureyev, Anna Pavlova, Yuri Grigorivch, Natalia Makarova,