Ballet Raymonda, a masterpiece by the world-famous choreographer Marius Petipa and the Russian composer Alexander Glazunov is a kind of graceful medieval romance. It’s interesting to notice that the ballet is a rare example of the productions set to the libretto written by a woman. The scenario was created by Princess Lidia Pashkova, an extraordinary lady who managed to be a member of the French Geographic Society and a correspondent of Le Figaro in Paris, the author of several novels and an ardent traveler who visited Egypt, Palestine and Syria. Thus her Eastern impressions were realized in the ballet. Raymonda was Marius Petipa’s last grand ballet: each act is full of variations displaying the essence of ballet techniques, and the second act is characterized by powerful dance scenes filled with exotic charm. The highlight of the ballet is the final act’s grand pas which skillfully combines classical and character dance. It is really an ideal ballet showing off the dancers in their glory. Full info

Spartacus, or Spartak, is a ballet by Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978). The work follows the exploits of Spartacus, the leader of the slave uprising against the Romans known as the Third Servile War, although the ballet's storyline takes considerable liberties with the historical record. Khachaturian composed the ballet in 1954, and for this was awarded a Lenin Prize that year. It was first staged, with choreography by Leonid Yakobson, in Leningrad 1956.Since the middle of last century, for decades, this ballet was among the most popular and beloved ones in the ballet repertory of the Mariinsky Theater. Over the last seasons, this performance have been carefully restored, and a number of young ballet artists of the Mariinsky Theatre took a great interest to learn the new for them style and roles of the main characters, enriched with a great drama, theatricality generous and sincerely expressive with respect to what is being called simple human feelings.Choreography by Leonid Yakobson features a combination of dance, drama and pantomime. It has a careful attitude to the era of storytelling and original details of plots. Revival of this ballet represents one of the most important periods in the development of the Mariinsky Ballet in the 20th century and its popularity these days proves that they have stood the test of time and now it is once again in the repertoire of the Mariinsky Theatre. Full info