''La Prima Ballerina, ou L'embuscade'' or ''The Traveling Dancer'' (aka ''La Danseuse en voyage'') is a

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

(choreographic episode) in one act, with choreography by Marius Petipa, music by

Cesare Pugni Cesare Pugni (; russian: Цезарь Пуни, Cezar' Puni; 31 May 1802 in Genoa – ) was an Italian composer of ballet music, a pianist and a violinist. In his early career he composed operas, symphonies, and various other forms of orches ...

and libretto by Paul Taglioni. It was based on a ballet created by Paul Taglioni for the

Ballet of Her Majesty's Theatre Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established ...

, London first presented on June 14, 1849. It was first presented by the

Imperial Ballet 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 Russ ...

on November April 16, 1864 ( Julian/ Gregorian calendar dates), at the

Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre The Saint Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre (The Big Stone Theatre of Saint Petersburg, russian: Большой Каменный Театр) was a theatre in Saint Petersburg. It was built in 1783 to Antonio Rinaldi's Neoclassical ...

St. Petersburg, Russia Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. The principal Dancers were Mariia Surovshchikova-Petipa as the Prima Ballerina, and

Timofei Stukolkin Timofei Alekseyevich Stukolkin (russian: Тимофей Алексеевич Стуколкин; , the village Kozmino of Simbirsk province - , Saint Petersburg) was a Russian ballet dancer. ''Oxford Dictionary of Dance'' called him "one of the gr ...

as Rinaldo. A variation from this ballet—composed by Petipa in 1905 for the ''Prima Ballerina''

Olga Preobrajenskaya Olga Iosifovna Preobrajenska (russian: О́льга Ио́сифовна Преображе́нская; born Preobrazhenskaya; – 27 December 1962) was a Russian ballerina of the Russian Imperial Ballet and a ballet instructor. Biogra ...

—was the last choreography Petipa ever created (as noted in his Diaries).

Lev Ivanov Lev Ivanovich Ivanov (russian: link=no, Лев Ива́нович Ива́нов; 2 March 1834, Moscow – 24 December 1901, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer and later, Second Balletmaster of the Imperial Ballet. ...

produced a revival for the Imperial Ballet, with the composer/conductor

Riccardo Drigo Riccardo Eugenio Drigo ( ru. Риккардо Эудженьо Дриго) (30 June 18461 October 1930) was an Italian composer of ballet music and Italian opera, a theatrical conductor, and a pianist. Drigo is most noted for his long career a ...

editing and making additions to Cesare Pugni's original score. First presented on July 26/August 7 ( Julian/ Gregorian calendar dates), 1893 for the Imperial court at the theatre of

Krasnoe Selo Krasnoye Selo (russian: Кра́сное Село́, lit. ''Red village''). Г. П. Смолицкая. "Топонимический словарь Центральной России". "Армада-Пресс", 2002 is a munic ...

. St. Petersburg, Russia.

See also