Russia’s top ballet companies perform Stravinsky Classics

Aug 02, 2025

Description: Moscow (Russia), August 01 (ANI): The Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theatres present a captivating evening of one-act ballets set to the music of Igor Stravinsky to bringing together the brilliance of two legendary ballet institutions. Welcoming the audience is a velvet curtain, inspired by Sergey Diaghilev’s “Ballets Russes”. For that very theatre tour, at the beginning of the 20th century, Stravinsky composed The Firebird, Petrushka, The Rite of Spring and Les Noces. The evening begins with Les Noces, a piece for which Stravinsky crafted the libretto using traditional Russian folk songs the same melodies Yuliya Spiridonova grew up dancing to. Now a principal dancer with the Mariinsky ballet, Spiridonova takes on the lead role. Her journey began at age six, performing in a folk dance ensemble in her hometown of Miass, located in the Chelyabinsk Region. Petrushka, in Michel Fokine’s choreography, now over 100 years old was recreated at the Bolshoi especially for this performance. Archivists meticulously reviewed 16 hours of documentary footage of the ballet master himself. Each performers movement vocabulary is unique the dancers say in both Petrushka and The Firebird, another Bolshoi premiere. Alyona Kovalyova worked closely with the choreographers to embody the mythical creature. She studied previous interpretations & searched for her own colours, saying there’s a lot of room for improvization in this role.