One-act ballet to the music of Tchaikovsky’s Act III of Swan Lake

Choreography by George Balanchine

First staged in 1960. This version was first performed in Perm in 2014. Running time: 9 minutes

Tchaikovsky pas de deux is one of the noble bravura ballets that allow dancers to display their virtuosity and talent. Balanchine created this number in 1960 for dancers Violette Verdy and Conrad Ludlow. The music used in the piece was taken from an excerpt from Swan Lake which was unknown to the general public, discovered accidentally in 1953 in the archives of the Bolshoi Theatre. It was composed thanks to ballerina Anna Sobeshchanskaya who starred in the role of Odile in 1877; she asked the composer for more material for her character in the act at the ball. However, the excerpt was not included in the published score, which, starting with Petipa, was used by choreographers. Having heard of the Bolshoi Theatre’s sensational discovery, George Balanchine sought permission to use the music in his ballet.

The ballet is staged in collaboration with the George Balanchine Foundation in accordance with Balanchine’s style and technique

Age category: 12+

One-act ballet to Stravinsky’s Monumentum pro Gesualdo di Venosa ad CD annum

Choreography by George Balanchine

The ballet was first staged in 1960. This version was first performed in Perm in 2011. Running time: 8 minutes

Igor Stravinsky’s Monumentum pro Gesualdo is a paraphrase of three works by Carlo Gesualdo (1566–1613), the Late Renaissance Italian mannerist who has gone down in the history of music as a composer of madrigals in a unique chromatic style, and also as a murderer accused of the deaths of his wife and her lover. But Stravinsky, like Balanchine, was less interested in the details of the composer’s private life. One day, Stravinsky, in a conversation with Balanchine, replied to Balanchine’s phrase “See the music” with “Hear the dance”. Monumentum pro Gesualdо is a dramatic presentation of a dialogue between these great artists. 

The ballet is staged in collaboration with the George Balanchine Foundation in accordance with Balanchine’s style and technique 

Project Sponsors: The Prognoz Company and Mr. Toshihiko Takahashi
The production is staged with the support of the Pearl of the Urals Foundation 

Age category: 12+ 

One-act ballet to the music of Louis Moreau Gottschalk's Grande Tarantelle, Op. 67 (reconstructed and orchestrated for piano and orchestra by Hershy Kay)

Choreography by George Balanchine

First staged in 1964. This version was first performed in Perm in 2014. Running time: 7 minutes

Louis Moreau Gottschalk left his mark on the history of world music as one of the first American composers to win success and recognition in Europe. His creative style is distinguished by a passion for syncopated rhythms and a close connection to folk dance music. Balanchine always admired the boldness and wit of Gottschalk’s compositions. His Grande Tarantelle attracted the choreographer because the “Neapolitan, or if you prefer, demi-caractère dance” is full of “speed and high spirits”. The first dancers to perform Balanchine's Tarantella were New York City Ballet stars Patricia McBride and Edward Villella. This sprightly virtuosic piece, skilfully stylized to the Neapolitan dance, is an indisputable hit of any gala.

The ballet is staged in collaboration with the George Balanchine Foundation in accordance with Balanchine’s style and technique

Age category: 12+

One-act ballet using musical themes from Vincenzo Bellini’s operas

The ballet was first staged in 1946. This version was first performed in Perm in 2001. 

The main enigma of this romantic ballet–melodrama is how the fragile ballerina, who plays the role ofLa Sonnambula, manages to lift the dead Poet and hide with his body in the night-time shadow of an arch. The great ballet master George Balanchine created this rare example (for him) of a ballet with a plot for the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo in 1946. The music was written by Italian composer Vittorio Rieti, who used themes from Bellini’s operas. 

Among the characters at a ball, whose faces are concealed by black half-masks, a new guest appears: a Poet, who is instantly captivated by the beauty of a Coquette, the favourite of the Baron hosting the ball.

However, the Poet’s happiness is short-lived, as after the ball, the Baron takes the girl away with him, leaving her lover in solitude. At that very minute a girl with closed eyes holding a burning candle appears in the ruined park... 

Balanchine’s ballet harks back to two of the earliest ballets in history – La Sylphide and Giselle – and the part of La Sonnambula is one of the most difficult in the repertoire. The original title of the ballet was Night Shadow; it was only in 1960 at the New York City Ballet that it came to be known as La Sonnambula. 

The ballet is staged in collaboration with the George Balanchine Foundation in accordance with Balanchine’s style and technique 

The project is staged with financial support from the Pearl of the Urals Foundation