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Mariinsky Ballet
Mariinsky Ballet
General information
Name	Mariinsky Ballet
Previous names	Imperial Russian Ballet (1860–1920); State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Leningrad State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (1920/1924–1935); Kirov Ballet (1935–1992);
Year founded	Approx. 1740; 284 years ago
Principal venue	Mariinsky Theatre; 1 Theatre Square; St Petersburg; Russia
Website	www.mariinsky.ru/en
Artistic staff
Artistic Director	Valery Gergiev; (Mariinsky Theatre)
Deputy Director	Yury Fateyev; Tatiana Bessarabova (assistant);
Reserve Troupe Director	Andrei Bugaev
Other
Parent company	Mariinsky Theatre
Associated schools	Vaganova Ballet Academy
Formation	Principal; First Soloist; Second Soloist; Principal Character Artist; Coryphee; Corps de Ballet; Reserve Troup;

The Mariinsky Ballet (Russian: Балет Мариинского театра) is the resident classical ballet company of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russian Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet is one of the world's leading ballet companies. Internationally in some quarters, the Mariinsky Ballet continues to be known by its former Soviet name the Kirov Ballet. The Mariinsky Ballet is the parent company of the Vaganova Ballet Academy, a leading international ballet school.

History

Carlotta Brianza and Pavel Gerdt of the Imperial Ballet as Princess Aurora and Prince Desire in the 1890 premiere of the *Sleeping Beauty*.

The Mariinsky Ballet was founded in the 1740s, following the formation of the first Russian dance school in 1738.

The Imperial Theatre School, as it was originally known, was established on 4 May 1738, at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. It would become the predecessor of today's Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet. The school's founder director was the French ballet master and teacher Jean-Baptiste Landé and the purpose of creating the school was to train young dancers to form the first Russian ballet company.

As the Imperial Russian Ballet, the company premiered numerous ballets by choreographer Marius Petipa. A number of his ballets now form the basis of the traditional classical ballet repertoire, performed by ballet companies around the world, and often retaining much of Petipa's choreography. These ballets include the original productions of The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, La Bayadère, and Raymonda; and popular revivals of older ballets, including Coppélia, Giselle, and Le Corsaire. Petipa's revival of the ballet Swan Lake is perhaps his most famous work for the company. Originally choreographed by Julius Reisinger for the Bolshoi Theatre in 1877, Swan Lake was initially a critical and commercial failure. Petipa sought to revive the ballet with the blessing of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, but the composer died before the new ballet was created. Petipa consequently worked with his brother Modest Tchaikovsky, who significantly revised the story and rewrote the libretto to the version now commonly performed. The production was choreographed by Petipa and his collaborator Lev Ivanov. Premiering at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1895, the Petipa/Ivanov/Tchaikovsky production of Swan Lake was a success.

Following the Russian Revolution, the Soviet government decided that the ballet school and company were unwanted symbols of the tsarist regime and closed them both. The ballet company was the first to be re-established, becoming in 1920 known as the State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet, with the school re-opening later as the Leningrad State Choreographic School, both in their previous locations.

After the assassination of prominent Soviet figure Sergey Kirov in 1934, the Ballet was renamed the Kirov Ballet in 1935,^[1] a name which is still sometimes incorrectly used. After the end of Communist rule, the ballet company and opera company were renamed for the theatre, becoming in 1992 the Mariinsky Ballet and Mariinsky Opera. Both companies are now run by the theatre itself.

Today

The Director of the Mariinsky Ballet is Yuri Fateyev.

Repertoire

^[2]

Adagio Hammerklavier
Anna Karenina-Alexei Ratmansky version
Apollo
Ballet Imperial (Ballet No 2)
Bambi
La Bayadère
Bolero Factory
The Bronze Horseman
Camera obscura
Carmen Suite
Carnaval
The Cat on the Tree
Chopiniana
Choreographic Game 3x3
Cinderella-Alexei Ratmansky version
Concerto DSCH
Le Corsaire
Le Divertissement du roi
Don Quixote
Elegy. Ophelia
The Firebird
Fountain of Bakhchisarai
The Four Seasons
Giselle
Infra
In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated
In the Night
In the Jungle
Inside the Lines
Jewels
The Legend of Love-choreography Yury Grigorovich
Leningrad Symphony
The Little Humpbacked Horse-Alexei Ratmansky version
Marguerite and Armand
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Les noces
The Nutcracker-Marius Petipa version
The Nutcracker-Mihail Chemiakin version
Paquita-Yuri Smekalov version
Paquita Grand Pas
Pavlovsk
Le Parc
Petrouchka
Petrouchka-Vladimir Varnava and Konstantin Fyodorov version
Polovtsian Dances (ballet)
The Prodigal Son
Raymonda
Le Réveil de Flore
Romeo and Juliet-Leonid Lavrovsky version
Russian Overture
Le Sacre Du Primtemps
Sacre
Scheherazade
Scotch Symphony
Second I
Serenade
Shurale
Solo
Sleeping Beauty-Konstantin Sergeev version
Sleeping Beauty-Sergei Vikharev version
Spartacus-Leonid Yakobson version
Le Spectre de la rose
The Stone Flower
The Swan
Swan Lake
La Sylphide
Sylvia
Symphony in C
Symphony in Three Movements
Tarantella
Tchaikovsky Pas de deux
The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude
Variations for two couples
Violin Concerto No. 2
Without
Yaroslavna. The Eclipse
The Young Lady and the Hooligan
5 Tangos

Dancers

The basis of the Mariinsky Ballet consists of the following artists:^[3]

Principals

First Soloists

Maria Ilyushkina
Alexandra Khiteyeva
Maria Khoreva
Anastasia Kolegova
May Nagahisa
Yekaterina Osmolkina
Kristina Shapran
Maria Shirinkina
Elena Evseeva
Elena Svinko
Roman Belyakov
Even Capitaine
Yevgeny Konovalov
Nikita Korneyev
Alexander Sergeev
Philipp Stepin
Konstantin Zverev

Second Soloists

Vlada Borodulina
Maria Bulanova
Alexandra Iosifidi
Daria Kulikova
Anastasia Lukina
Valeria Martynyuk
Camilla Mazzi
Anastasia Nuikina
Yana Selina
Tatiana Tkachenko
Yuri Smekalov
Ruslan Stenyushkin
Alexei Timofeyev
David Zaleyev
Maxim Zyuzin

Character Soloists

Elena Bazhenova
Olga Belik
Alisa Rusina
Islom Baimuradov
Soslan Kulaev
Dmitry Pykhachov
Vasily Shcherbakov
Andrei Yakovlev

Coryphées

Yesenia Anushenkova
Yuliana Chereshkevich
Maria Chernyavskaya
Tamara Gimadieva
Shamala Guseinova
Daria Ionova
Yekaterina Ivannikova
Viktoria Krasnokutskaya
Valeria Kuznetsova
Bíborka Lendvai
Anastasia Nikitina
Zlata Yalinich
Yaroslav Baibordin
Ramanbek Beishenaliev
Maxim Izmestiev
Kian James Manghise
Roman Malyshev
Pavel Mikheyev
Alexei Nedviga
Aaron Osawa-Horowitz
Grigory Popov
Yaroslav Pushkov
Andrei Solovyov

Notable dancers

References

^ Masters, John. "Patrons gorging at Expo's culture banquet." Toronto Star, 24 May 1986. Page F.3
^ "BALLET". www.mariinsky.ru.
^ "Soloists of the ballet company". Mariinsky Theatre. Retrieved 2017-01-02.