ORONO – A dozen young dancers huddled near the stage door at the Maine Center for the Arts Saturday night, waiting for members of the St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre to emerge after their performance of “Romeo and Juliet.” Two girls clutched posies of glitter-dipped white roses, while others brushed up on their Russian.

“Ochen krasevee,” they said quietly, excitedly. “You are beautiful. You are very, very beautiful.”

It was a breathtaking, if unconventional, performance, and these teens and twentysomethings from Pittsfield’s Bossov Ballet Theatre had front-row seats. Four from the group – Sabrina Linde and Adrian Silver, 22, Calder Taylor, 19, and Elsie Gawler, 14 – leave next Wednesday for St. Petersburg, where they will perform and take master classes during the Festival Dance Open.

“On both sides, they are unknowing ambassadors of dance,” Sabrina’s mom, Kristina Linde, said.

Linde organized the trip (and surprised them with a ride in a stretch-SUV limo) so Sabrina and her classmates could see professional Russian ballet – an opportunity that doesn’t present itself often in rural Maine. The Lindes moved to Pittsfield from New Mexico so Sabrina could study in the Vaganova style with Andrei Bossov and Natalya Getman. Like her classmates, Sabrina is serious about dancing, obsessed with technique, and eager to learn.

“They sat up in the front row so they can study the holds and partnering, so they can watch hands and feet,” Kristina Linde said. “They were up close and personal to see what the professional ballet theater of St. Petersburg is doing, and what they aspire to do.”

For many of the dancers, Saturday’s performance was a passionate, intoxicating reminder of how Russian ballet differs from American dance. And for the men in the troupe, the decidedly male-centered performance reinforced their commitment to their art.

“In Russia, the guys never have lost their role,” Taylor said. “In the history of ballet in America, women have become the [focus].”

“There was definitely a European sense of sexuality,” Silver added, referring to the tension between Mercutio and Tybalt, which ended almost, but not quite, in a kiss during their dance with Queen Nab. “Seeing how it plays out in a Western play was interesting, especially in the pas de trois.”

For the young women in the group, the experience was akin to their peers in Russia, where ballet dancers are as famous and well-regarded as pop stars in the States.

“They were beautiful – Mercutio, Tybalt, all of them,” Lindsey Stevens, 14, gushed in the limo as she settled in for the ride home. “I think I want to marry someone.”

Her girlfriends nodded in agreement and giggled.

“It’s all about the ballet dancing,” Stevens added.

Then the chauffeur closed the door and they drove off into the night, programs in hand, with visions of St. Petersburg dancing in their heads.