A teenaged dancer dreams across the world

Last week, like many other teenagers across the country, Mire New returned to school. She reunited with the friends she missed over the summer, see familiar teachers and turned to homework in the evenings.

But for New, school is anything but typical. Her classes begin in the early morning and do not end until dinnertime. While she's doing homework, she'll likely simultaneously be doing Pilates stretches. And many of her friends, who are from Russia, Europe and Asia, don't speak English. New is a full-time student at the Bolshoi Ballet academy in Moscow and among the few Americans at the school, the first ever from Alaska.

"I'm literally halfway around the world," New, 17, said recently over the phone from her home in Juneau. "I wish there was a direct flight."