About us
The Arts Center “Edelweiss” originated in 1994 and was based in school №438 in a small town of Lisiy Nos.
In 2016 the Arts Center “Edelweiss” is celebrating its 22th anniversary. During the years of its existence, the Center has become a temple of art where a unique team of highest professionals and talented educators, passionately devoted to children and their work has been formed.
The creator, mastermind and permanent artistic director of “Edelweiss” is Polikarpova Irina, a talented educator with vivid imagination, rich inner world and ambitious creative plans, which always come true.
The Center conducts educational activities following social, sport and artistic educational programs.
Educational process in the Arts Center is closely related to culture and leisure, which is a very important part of the whole process, as it helps to educate and reveal artistic potential of the children.
“Edelweiss” has got many different directions, including choreographic, sport, vocal, musical, performing and fine arts.
Nowadays “Edelweiss” is one of the most talented and brilliant on-stage performance groups of Saint Petersburg that unites more than 4000 little boys and girls, devoted to art, who are ready to share their joy, happiness, beauty and smiles with the audience. The Arts Center is divided into 8 branches, based in the schools of Primorsky raion of Saint Petersburg.
The repertoire of the Center is constantly broadening, there are more than one hundred compositions, including vocal and choreographic suites, folk character dances, sport compositions, folklore dances, on-stage choreographic and jazz performances. Several one-act musicals performed at Big Concert Hall “Oktiabrsky” met a huge success, they were: “Angel above Saint Petersburg”, “Winter craze”, “Christmas adventures in a Wonderland”, “The Golden key”, “New Year strides along the planet”, “Olympic New Year”. A lot of bright and wonderful costumes have been created for all the performances, but talented young professionals make them shine even brighter.
The students of the Center have got an amazing opportunity to reveal their talents and acquire a unique experience while performing at the biggest stages of the city. It seems impossible to imagine most of the regional and city festivals without our young performers.
On the 5th of May, 2012 the students of the Arts Center “Edelweiss” have performed at the charity event for the Veterans of the Great Patriotic War, which took place in the State Kremlin Palace. More than 300 children took part in a one-act musical “Angel above Saint Petersburg” (the history of the city through the eyes of a child) which occurred to be an enormous performance.
The biggest and the most important event of Russian cultural life was devoted to the XXII Winter Olympics and XI Winter Paralympic Games in 2014. The Arts Center “Edelweiss” is the unique on-stage performance group of Saint Petersburg, which won very powerful competitors at the biggest contest, the prize of the winner was to vindicate honor of the country at the XXII Winter Olympics. In terms of international cultural and educational program, the Center was proud to present the best choreographic and vocal shows performed brightly, professionally and artistically, with lots of spectacular costumes. The students of “Edelweiss” were happy to take part in cultural events devoted to the XI Winter Paralympic Games in 2014 and to memorize the most impressive and unforgettable moments of the Closing Ceremony.
On the 2nd of November, 2014 on the stage of the Ice Palace on the eve of National Unity Day and the beginning of the autumn holidays, residents and guests of our city were presented with a unique celebrity – grand concert “20 years to the pinnacle of success!”, dedicated to the anniversary of “Edelweiss” Center for the Arts, which was attended by the best children’s creative teams of St. Petersburg and the St. Petersburg pop stars. The program includes the most massive flashmob held indoors – dancing on the stage 2000 children!
On the 5th of May, 2015 at the State Kremlin Palace hosted a gala charity concert dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Victory in Great Patriotic War “Spring Victory!”. The festive event was attended by 350 of pupils aged 7 to 18 years of the Arts Center “Edelweiss”. The concert program was designed for a wide audience, both young people and the veterans of the Great Patriotic War. In total, dance, vocal and theatrical numbers saw about 6 thousand people. Particular attention was paid to the teachers and pupils of the preparation of the episode “The Immortal Memory regiment”. The main objective of event – to encourage people to keep the heart and transmit to future generations the memories of the Great Patriotic War.
The Arts Center “Edelweiss” has also become a provider of many events such as festivals and contests aimed at the harmonious development of children, strengthening the idea of tolerance in the society. These events have become traditional in terms of a city program “Children are worth the best”. The creator of the special combined program of festivals and contests “Children are worth the best” is the director of Arts Center “Edelweiss” Polikarpova Irina.
International choreographic festival for children «Petro-DANCE» (2003-2016);
Annual festival of young voices «Golden microphone» (2004 – 2016);
Annual festival of choreographic arts «Arabesk» (2005 – 2016);
Annual festival of dramatic art for children «Charley» (2006 – 2016);
Annual festival of young piano players «The white piano» (2005 – 2016).
On-stage performance group of the Arts Center “Edelweiss” has given guest performances with a program “Children are emissaries of peace” in more than 20 countries of the world including France, Italy, Germany, UAE, China, Austria, Poland, Ukraine, Monaco, Lithuania, Latvia, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Turkey, Belorussia, Czech Republic and others.
It’s just a beginning!