Giant leap for a boy

In his tough San Bernardino neighborhood, Matthew Leonardi doesn't talk much of his graceful pirouettes or evenings spent dancing with girls in pink tutus.

He's not ashamed; he just doesn't need the grief. And the tights are completely off-limits.

"When they first told me I had to wear tights, I said, 'Women wear tights,' " the lanky 14-year-old said.

His mother, Valerie, had a ready response: "Superman wears tights."

Matthew is no Superman, but he has accomplished a pretty super feat. He has been asked to attend the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, a rare invitation from one of the best dance schools on Earth. According to the Russian American Foundation, which organizes auditions for the Bolshoi, Matthew Leonardi is the only American male accepted this year.

"I would say it is uncommon globally because they only invite the best dancers," said Rina Kirshner, vice president of the foundation. "The academy needs a combination of physical features, talent and training, and Matthew has all three."

The polite, good-natured boy with the wild head of hair and mouthful of braces has never left the country. He is supposed to arrive in Russia early next month.

His mother, a kindergarten teacher and single parent of four, is trying to line up sponsors to help pay the $18,400 annual tuition.

But it's an uphill battle.

"I was calling New York looking for donors and when I told this one lady that not many people here had heard of the Bolshoi, she said, 'Naturally, Californians tend not to know very much about the arts,' " Valerie Leonardi said.

San Bernardino is known for many things -- the birthplace of McDonald's, the Hells Angels. Ballet isn't one of them.

Still, Cecilia Hering, Matthew's dance teacher, said famed dancer Twyla Tharp once lived and trained in San Bernardino.

"When I was dancing, maybe one in a thousand could go to the Bolshoi," she said. "It goes to show that it isn't where you come from."

Even Mayor Patrick Morris, 70, has dancing chops. He and his daughter belonged to a ballet company for years. They danced in "The Nutcracker," an annual performance done with the 80-year-old San Bernardino Symphony.

Finding Matthew Leonardi in his city delights Morris but doesn't surprise him.

"From the capital of the Inland Empire come a lot of great people," he said. "And I don't think we are underrepresented in the world of great talent."