Click the video to learn more about Elvira Bagautdinova. [Video/Hangzhou Daily]

Though having lived in Hangzhou for only two years, Elvira Bagautdinova, a Russian ballerina, is quite accustomed to local life and dreams of setting up a ballet troupe and performing at the Hangzhou Grand Theater one day.

Moving to Hangzhou with her husband, seven-year-old son and five-year-old daughter in 2018, Elvira said at first it was difficult for her to adapt to local life.

"I arrived in Hangzhou in August, when the city was scorching hot," Elvira said. "It took me about half a year to acclimatize and now I really enjoy my life here."

Elvira insisted on sending her son and daughter to public instead of international schools in Hangzhou.

"My husband and I want our children to learn good Chinese, and public schools here are quite similar to those in Russia; both are strict with students' studies," Elvira said.

She is also strict with herself as she spends a lot of time every day practicing ballet.

"Ballet dancers usually retire at the age of 40 and I'm already 33 years old. I want to dance for a few more years," Elvira said.

She joined an international training institution and opened her ballet classes there in 2019, but was inspired by the reality that there was no professional ballet troupe in Hangzhou.

She wanted to improve the students' ballet skills through her own efforts, preferably by forming a professional ballet troupe in Hangzhou.

"I hope that one day I can take my students to perform at the Hangzhou Grand Theater," Elvira said.