The Moscow State Academy of Choreography, commonly known as the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, is a ballet school located in Moscow, Russia. It is the affiliate school of the Bolshoi Ballet. Founded on December 23, 1773 as the second ballet school in Russia, it entered into a contract with the Italian teacher-choreographer Filippo Becari, regarded as the "most capable of teaching" children to learn to "dance with all possible precision and to show themselves publicly in all pantomime ballets".