Bridge Capital donates $1K to Glushko Academy

Bridge Capital LLC officials present founder and teacher of Glushko Ballet Academy, Anna Glushko (middle right), along with her students the $1,000 check on Oct. 11, 2016. (Michael Santos)

Bridge Capital LLC presented another generous donation of $1,000 to a ballet academy located in Mount Carmel High School last Oct. 11. The academy is called Glushko Ballet Academy and is no stranger to donations received from Bridge Capital. The owner, Anna Glushko, is the founder and teacher of the class. Before coming to Saipan, Glushko graduated from Vladivostok University.

When asked about what made her want to open her own ballet academy, Glushko replied, “I think it’s every dancers’ dream after they finish their dancing career. I mean this is what I’ve been doing; I’ve been dancing since I was 7. I opened a ballet school on Saipan to see how it would do and it turned out to be very successful. Without even realizing it, we are now approaching our 15th year.”

“I love my work. I actually don’t really consider this work because it’s like the saying, ‘When you love what you do, you never work a day in your life,’ so it applies to what I’m doing,” Glushko added.

Glushko Ballet Academy offers classes to a variety of people. “We have children from as young as 3 years old. However, I also have ladies who already have their own grandchildren and they join in another group. As for males, we recently got two recruits, one being 9 and the other 11,” she explained.

With the money they are getting from Bridge Capital, Glushko plans to use it for the academy’s major performances starting in May.

“We really appreciate the help of Bridge Capital. We request donations from them because they’re famous for supporting art, dance, and music and we’re very happy and honored to receive it [donation],” Glushko said.

John Sario, executive assistant to John Baldwin, said, “John Baldwin and staff from Bridge Capital are direct supporters of anything that could help the community.”

Bridge Capital vice president and chief operations officer Jody Jordahl was also present. “Bridge has been a long time supporter of the fine arts and performing arts ever since we’ve [Bridge Capital] been on island. We’re so lucky to have such high caliber performer and teacher, Anna…and we are always looking forward to working with her.”

Joe Guerrero, business and development manager of Bridge Capital, added, “Bridge Capital is very active in the community, always looking for ways to help. We give for education, performing arts, humanities, and the Red Cross—kind of spreading out our donations to the different sectors in the community.”