Ballet in Russia

Main article: Culture of Russia

Educational institutions

• Moscow State Academy of Choreography (MGAH)

Theaters

Main article: Theaters in Russia

• Mariinsky Theater
• Bolshoi Theater

• Tatar Opera and Ballet Theater
• Saratov Academic Opera and Ballet Theater
• Voronezh State Opera and Ballet Theater
• Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater
• Bashkir Opera and Ballet Theater

2024: The first AI ballet was staged in Russia

In July 2024, the premiere of the first ballet in Russia created using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies took place in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The play "Insight," which tells about the love story of a family of engineers who went to the construction site of the century, has become a unique project at the intersection of art and modern technology. Read more here.

2022: Maya Plesetskaya's spouse hands over their apartment in Moscow to organize a museum

An apartment in Moscow at 25/9 Tverskaya St. was donated to the Bakhrushinsky Theater Museum by the husband of ballerina Maya Plesetskaya, composer Rodion Shchedrin in 2022. They lived in it for about 30 years.

2015

Oksana Kardash as the Mistress of Copper Mountain. Ballet "Stone Flower" (2015). Photo by Mikhail Logvinov

2013

S. Zakharova as Odile, A. Volchkov as Prince Siegfried. Ballet "Swan Lake" (2013). Photo by Mikhail Logvinov

1997

Plisetskaya M.M., portrait, 1997. Photographer: S.S. Bermeniev Bakhrushinsky Museum

1987

Maya Plisetskaya, 1980s Bakhrushinsky Museum

1978

Ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, 1970s

Ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, Bakhrushinsky Museum

1973

Poster for the ballet "Spanish Miniatures" for the Sverdlovsk Opera and Ballet Theater named after A.V. Lunacharsky. Artists Kanevsky and Shchapov, 1973. Bakhrushinsky Museum

1971

In 1971, at the theater festival in Avignon, ballerina Maya Plisetskaya met French fashion designer Pierre Cardin. The meeting grew into a long and strong friendship - for the next thirty years, the ballerina dressed almost only with Cardin. Another couturier created outfits for several productions with Plisetskaya as a prima ballerina - among them "The Seagull," "Lady with a Dog," "Anna Karenina." The latter work was especially large-scale and spectacular: Carden created ten dresses, preserving historical silhouettes of the 19th century.

Plisetskaya M.M. at the fitting at Cardin, 1970s, Bakhrushinsky Museum

The joint work of Cardin and Plisetskaya remained unknown for a long time. But in 1998, Maya Mikhailovna organized the production of "Fashion and Dance" in the Kremlin - their joint performance with Cardin at the junction of ballet and fashion show.

1968

Maya Plisetskaya and Rodion Shchedrin. 1950-1960s. Bakhrushinsky Museum

Maya Plisetskaya. Odile in ballet Swan Lake

1963

Yuri Alekseevich Bakhrushin (January 15 [27], 1896, Moscow - August 4, 1973, Moscow) - Soviet ballet expert, theater critic, ballet historian, teacher.

In 1948, with the compilation of the "Summary of Lectures on the History of Russian Ballet, given at the Lunacharsky State Institute of Theater Arts and at the Choreographic School of the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR," Yuri Bakhrushin began the work that became the main thing in his life - the creation of the "History of Russian Ballet," which was released in 1965. In this book, in a concise form, the whole history of the emergence and development of ballet art in Russia is concentrated, from the origins to the 1917 revolution. The book was recommended as a teaching aid for students of cultural institutes, students of theater and choreographic educational institutions, and was repeatedly reprinted in thousands of copies.

1958

Maya Plisetskaya. 1950s Bakhrushinsky Museum

Maya Plisetskaya. 1940s-1950s Bakhrushinsky Museum

1956

Плисецкая в роли Одетты в балете Лебединое озеро Фотостудия ИЗОТИЗА, Moscow. 1956 Bakhrushinsky Museum

1950

Портрет Галины Улановой, 1945-1950 гг. Bakhrushinsky Museum

Legendary ballerina Galina Sergeevna Ulanova in the country

Galina Sergeevna Ulanova in the country

Galina Ulanova in the country

1940: Premiere of "Romeo and Juliet" by Prokofiev at the Kirov Theater with Galina Ulanova

The premiere at the Kirov Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater, held on January 11, 1940, was a turning point in the history of Prokofiev's ballet Romeo and Juliet. Choreographer Leonid Lavrovsky initiated the writing of a new edition of the libretto and obtained the composer's consent to a number of alterations and the inclusion of additional numbers in the score, which helped the artists "come to terms" with this music. Read more here.

1922

Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova and US actor Charlie Chaplin. 1922

1912

Lev Bakst. Program "Russian Seasons." Performances: "Vision of the Rose," "Narcissus and Echo," "Parsley" "Daphnis and Chloe," "Scheherazade," "Blue God." 1912. Bakhrushinsky Museum

1910

Ballet "Shekherezade" by Rimsky-Korsakov in "Russian Seasons" by Diaghilev

The ballet "Scheherazade," which premiered on July 4, 1910 at the Paris Grand Opera, became one of the most famous productions of "Russian Seasons." Bakst's lavish colourful sets and costumes invariably drew a standing ovation immediately after the curtain-raiser.

The bright, contrasting color costume of Shah Zeman for Rimsky-Korsakov's ballet "Shekherezada" is made of silk, cotton and linen fabric, as well as decorated with galuns and applications. These and other artistic decisions of Lev Bakst, as well as the practice of using translucent fabrics introduced by him, came to modern fashion precisely after the deafening success of Shekherezada in Russian Seasons. In 2023, the suit entered Bakhrushinsky Museum

Premiere of the ballet "Carnival" with music by Schumann with choreography by M. Fokin and scenography by L. Bakst

At the beginning of the XX century. diaghilev "Russian Seasons" walked triumphantly in Europe. One of the productions was "Carnival" to music by R. Schumann with choreography by M. Fokin and scenography by L. Bakst. The performance culminated in the wedding of Harlequin and Columbine, starring the brilliant Vaclav Nijinsky and the incomparable Tamara Karsavina. The premiere of the ballet with tremendous success took place in 1910, first in Berlin, then in Paris. German artist Paul Scheurich (1883-1945) - one of the best sculptors in porcelain XX century, who worked for the Meissen porcelain manufactory, was inspired by the images of this performance, the skill of Russian ballerinas and dancers and created a series of porcelain sculptures "Russian Ballet."

Scheurich's series consists of 5 five figures - the main characters of the Carnival ballet: Pierrot, Eusebius, Estrella, Kiarin and a pair sculpture of Harlequin and Columbine. The sculptures capture the grace and grace of the dancers incredibly accurately. The artist managed to masterfully capture ballet plastic in porcelain.

Paired sculpture of Harlequin and Columbine from the Paul Scheurich series "Russian Ballet," Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, Bakhrushinsky Museum

Bakhrushinsky Museum

Bakhrushinsky Museum

In January 2024, the Bakhrushinsky Museum was able to collect a full collection of porcelain sculptures from the series "Russian Ballet" by P. Scheurich.

1908: "Russian Seasons" by Sergei Diaghilev

The "Russian seasons" of the famous entrepreneur Sergei Diaghilev, who gathered the best artists of the imperial theaters of St. Petersburg and Moscow for tours in Europe and America, worked from 1908 to 1929. Diaghilev's entreprise became one of the most striking phenomena in theatrical art of the first quarter of the 20th century. Her performances influenced the development of not only world ballet, but also scenography, painting, design, and for some time determined fashion trends. The ideas of costumes, which were created according to the sketches of Lev Bakst, and he designed many ballets of the Russian Seasons, were used, among other things, by the couturier of the most influential fashion houses in Paris at that time - Jeanne Paquin, Paul Poiret and Charles Frederick Worth.

Silk dress with chiffon inserts Tamara from Balakirev's ballet of the same name staged by choreographer Mikhail Fokin. In 2023, the suit entered Bakhrushinsky Museum

1738: Academy of Russian Ballet founded in St. Petersburg

The Academy of Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg was founded.

1673: The first ballet performance in Russia at the court of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich

In 1673, the first ballet performance was performed at the court of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in Moscow.