The Mariinsky Ballet () is the resident

classical ballet Classical ballet is any of the traditional, formal styles of ballet that exclusively employ classical ballet technique. It is known for its aesthetics and rigorous technique (such as en pointe, pointe work, turnout (ballet), turnout of the legs, ...

company of the

Mariinsky Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre (, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic opera house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. 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 The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

name the Kirov Ballet. The Mariinsky Ballet is the parent company of the Vaganova Ballet Academy, a leading international ballet school.

History

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 The Winter Palace is a palace in Saint Petersburg that served as the official residence of the House of Romanov, previous emperors, from 1732 to 1917. The palace and its precincts now house the Hermitage Museum. The floor area is 233,345 square ...

. It would become the predecessor of today's

Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet The Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet is a school of classical ballet in St Petersburg, Russia. Established in 1738 during the reign of Empress Anna, the academy was known as the Imperial Ballet School until the Soviet era, when, after a brief h ...

. The school's founder director was the French

ballet master A ballet master (also balletmaster, ballet mistress, ''premier maître de ballet'' or ''premier maître de ballet en chef'') is an employee of a ballet company who is responsible for the level of competence of the dancers in their company. In mo ...

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 Marius Ivanovich Petipa (; born Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa; 11 March 1818) was a French and Russian ballet dancer, pedagogue and choreographer. He is considered one of the most influential ballet masters and choreographers in ballet history ...

. 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 Nutcracker'' (, ), Opus number, Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a '; ) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination featuring a Nutcracker doll. Th ...

'', '' The Sleeping Beauty'', ''

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

'', ''

La Bayadère ''La Bayadère'' ("the temple dancer") ( ru. «Баядерка», ''Bayaderka'') is an 1877 ballet, originally staged in four acts and seven tableaux by the French choreographer Marius Petipa to music by Ludwig Minkus and libretto by . The ba ...

'', and ''

Raymonda ''Raymonda'' () is a ballet, grand ballet in three acts, four scenes with an apotheosis, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa to the music of Alexander Glazunov (his Opus number, opus 57) and libretto by Lydia Pashkova. ''Raymonda'' was creat ...

''; and popular revivals of older ballets, including ''

Coppélia ''Coppélia'' (sometimes subtitled: ''La Fille aux Yeux d'Émail'' (The Girl with the Enamel Eyes)) is a comic ballet from 1870 originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to the music of Léo Delibes, with libretto by Charles-Louis-Éti ...

'', ''

Giselle ''Giselle'' ( , ), originally titled ''Giselle, ou les Wilis'' (; ''Giselle, or The Wilis''), is a romantic ballet () in two acts with music by Adolphe Adam. Considered a masterwork in the classical ballet performance canon, it was first perfor ...

'', and ''

Le Corsaire ''Le Corsaire'' is a ballet typically presented in three acts, with a libretto originally created by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges loosely based on the poem '' The Corsair'' by Lord Byron. Originally choreographed by Joseph Mazilier to ...

''. Petipa's revival of the ballet ''

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoje ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, links=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failu ...

'' is perhaps his most famous work for the company. Originally choreographed by

Julius Reisinger Julius Wentsel Reisinger (1828 – 1893) was a Czech ballet choreographer. He created more than twenty works on various European stages and directed the Moscow company of the Bolshoi Theatre. Reisinger choreographed the first stage production o ...

for the

Bolshoi Theatre The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈat(ə)r, t=Grand Theater) is a historic opera house in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové. Before the October Revolutio ...

in 1877, ''Swan Lake'' was initially a critical and commercial failure. Petipa sought to revive the ballet with the blessing of

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popula ...

, but the composer died before the new ballet was created. Petipa consequently worked with his brother

Modest Tchaikovsky Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky (; –) was a Russian people, Russian dramatist, opera librettist and translator. Early life Modest Ilyich was born in Alapayevsk, Verkhotursky Uyezd, Perm Governorate, the younger brother of the composer Pyotr Ilyich ...

, 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 Lev Ivanovich Ivanov (; 2 March 1834, Moscow – 24 December 1901, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer and later, Second Balletmaster of the Mariinsky Ballet, Imperial Ballet. As a performer with the Mariinsky Ballet, ...

. Premiering at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1895, the Petipa/Ivanov/Tchaikovsky production of Swan Lake was a success. Following the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, 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 Sergei Mironovich Kirov (born Kostrikov; 27 March 1886 – 1 December 1934) was a Russian and Soviet politician and Bolshevik revolutionary. Kirov was an early revolutionary in the Russian Empire and a member of the Bolshevik faction of the Russ ...

in 1934, the Ballet was renamed the Kirov Ballet in 1935, 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

*'' Adagio Hammerklavier'' *''Anna Karenina''-

Alexei Ratmansky Alexei Osipovich Ratmansky (, born August 27, 1968) is a Russian-Ukrainian-American choreographer and former ballet dancer. From 2004 to 2008 he was the director of the Moscow Bolshoi Ballet. He left Russia in 2008. In 2009 he was appointed the ar ...

version * ''Apollo'' * ''Ballet Imperial (Ballet No 2)'' *''Bambi'' *''

'' *''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 Divertissement du roi'' * ''Don Quixote'' *''Elegy. Ophelia'' *''

The Firebird ''The Firebird'' (; ) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine, who c ...

'' *'' Fountain of Bakhchisarai'' *''The Four Seasons'' *''

'' *''Infra'' *'' In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated'' * ''In the Night'' *''In the Jungle'' *''Inside the Lines'' * ''Jewels'' *''The Legend of Love''-choreography

Yury Grigorovich Yury Nikolayevich Grigorovich (; 2 January 1927 – 19 May 2025) was a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, ballet master, choreographer, and pedagogue who dominated the Russian ballet for 30 years, especially as artistic director of the Bolshoi B ...

*''Leningrad Symphony'' *''The Little Humpbacked Horse''-Alexei Ratmansky version *''

Marguerite and Armand ''Marguerite and Armand'' is a ballet danced to an orchestral arrangement of Franz Liszt's B minor piano sonata. It was created in 1963 by the British choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton specifically for Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn. The ba ...

'' * ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' *''

Les noces ''The Wedding'', or ''Svadebka (''), is a Russian-language ballet-cantata by Igor Stravinsky scored unusually for four vocal soloists, chorus, percussion and four pianos. Dedicating the work to impresario Sergei Diaghilev, the composer described ...

'' *''

''-

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'' *''

'' *''

Le Réveil de Flore ''Le Réveil de Flore'' (English language, en. ''The Awakening of Flora''), (Russian language, ru. «Пробуждение Флоры», ''Probuzhdenie Flory'') is a ''ballet Anacreontics, anacréontique'' in one act, with choreography by Marius ...

'' * ''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 Sergei Vikharev (Russian: Сергей Геннадьевич Вихарев) (15 February 1962 – 2 June 2017) was a Russian ballet dancer, choreographer of reconstructions and historian. Biography Sergei Vikharev was born in Saint Petersburg ...

version * ''Spartacus''- Leonid Yakobson version *'' Le Spectre de la rose'' * ''The Stone Flower'' * ''The Swan'' *''

'' *''

La Sylphide ''La Sylphide'' (; ) is a romantic ballet in two acts. There were two versions of the ballet; the original choreographed by Filippo Taglioni in 1832, and a second version choreographed by August Bournonville in 1836. Bournonville's is the only ve ...

'' * ''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:

Principals

* Nadezhda Batoeva * Ekaterina Kondaurova * Olesya Novikova * Renata Shakirova * Oksana Skorik * Viktoria Tereshkina *

Diana Vishneva Diana Viktorovna Vishneva (''also Romanization of Russian, trans.'' Vishnyova; ; born 13 July 1976) is a Russian ballet dancer who performs as a principal dancer with the Mariinsky Ballet (formerly the Kirov Ballet). Personal life Vishneva wa ...

* Timur Askerov * Yevgeny Ivanchenko * Kimin Kim * Vladimir Shklyarov * Andrey Ermakov

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

* Altynai Asylmuratova *

Mikhail Baryshnikov Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Барышников, p=mʲɪxɐˈil bɐ'rɨʂnʲɪkəf; ; born January 27, 1948) is a Latvian and American dancer, choreographer, and actor. He was the preeminent male ...

Vakhtang Chabukiani Vakhtang Mikheilis dze Chabukiani (March 12, 1910April 6, 1992) was a Soviet and Georgian ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher. He is considered to be one of the most influential male ballet dancers of the 20th century, and is noted for crea ...

Petra Conti Petra Conti (born April 30, 1988) is an Italian ballerina. She is a former principal dancer with Los Angeles Ballet, the Boston Ballet and La Scala Theatre Ballet. She is now the artistic director of her own ballet company, Hollywood Ballet. Bef ...

Natalia Dudinskaya Natalia Mikhailovna Dudinskaya (29 January 2003) was a Soviet prima ballerina who dominated the Kirov Ballet from the 1930s to the 1950s. Dudinskaya was born on , in Kharkiv. Her mother was , a Ukrainian and Russian ballerina who had been coa ...

Pavel Gerdt Pavel Andreyevich Gerdt (), also known as Paul Gerdt (22 November 1844, near Saint Petersburg, Russia – 12 August 1917, in Vamaloki, Finland, Russian Republic), was the ''Premier Danseur Noble'' of the Mariinsky Ballet, Imperial Ballet, the Bol ...

Tamara Karsavina Tamara Platonovna Karsavina (; 9 March 1885 – 26 May 1978) was a Russian prima ballerina, renowned for her beauty, who was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and later of the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev. After settling ...

* Maria Khoreva *

Irina Kolpakova Irina Aleksandrovna Kolpakova (; born 22 May 1933)Brief biography at ''He ...

Theodore Kosloff Theodore Kosloff (born Fyodor Mikhailovich Kozlov, ; January 22, 1882 – November 22, 1956) was a Russian-born ballet dancer, choreographer, and film and stage actor. He was occasionally credited as Theodor Kosloff. Career Born in Moscow in ...

Mathilde Kschessinska Mathilde-Marie Feliksovna Kschessinska ( – 6 December 1971), also known as Princess Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya upon her marriage, was a Polish-Russian ballerina from the noble Krzesiński family. Her father, Felix Kschessinsky, her brother and ...

Ninel Kurgapkina Ninel Aleksandrovna Kurgapkina (13 February 192910 May 2009, known by the diminutive Ninella) was a Soviet and Russian dance teacher and former prima ballerina for the Kirov Ballet with over 50 years stage experience. She was named a People's Ar ...

Pierina Legnani Pierina Legnani (30 September 1863 – 15 November 1930) was an Italian ballerina considered one of the greatest ballerinas of all time. Biography Legnani was born in 1863, in Milan and originally studied with famous ballet dancer Caterina B ...

Larissa Lezhnina Larisa Lezhnina () is a principal dancer with Dutch National Ballet, Amsterdam. She was born on March 17, 1969, in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia. She graduated from the Vaganova Ballet Academy in Leningrad in 1987 and joined the Kirov Balle ...

Ulyana Lopatkina Ulyana Vyacheslavovna Lopatkina (; born 23 October 1973) is a Russian prima ballerina who performed with the Mariinsky Theatre from 1991–2017. She studied at the Vaganova Academy with Natalia Dudinskaya. Upon graduation Lopatkina joined the ...

Askold Makarov Askold Anatolievich Makarov (; 3 May 1925 – 25 December 2000) was a Russian ballet dancer and ballet professor, leading soloist at the Kirov Ballet during the 1960s and early 1970s. Director of the Saint Petersburg State Academic Ballet from 1976 ...

Natalia Makarova Natalia Romanovna Makarova (, born 21 November 1940) is a Russian prima ballerina and choreographer. ''The History of Dance'', published in 1981, notes that "her performances set standards of artistry and aristocracy of dance which mark her a ...

* Varvara P. Mey * Galina Mezentseva *

Vaslav Nijinsky Vaslav or Vatslav Nijinsky (12 March 1889/18908 April 1950) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish ancestry. He is regarded as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century. Nijinsky was celebrated for his virtuosity and f ...

Rudolf Nureyev Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev (17 March 19386 January 1993) was a Soviet-born ballet dancer and choreographer. Nureyev is widely regarded as the preeminent male ballet dancer of his generation as well as one of the greatest ballet dancers of all ...

Alla Osipenko Alla Yevgenyevna Osipenko (; 16 June 1932 – 12 May 2025) was a Soviet ballerina and ballet teacher. One of the last pupils of Agrippina Vaganova, Osipenko became a prima ballerina of the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad in 1954. She danced both clas ...

Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlovna Pavlova. (born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova; – 23 January 1931) was a Russian prima ballerina. She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, but is most recognized for creating ...

Olga Preobrajenska Olga Iosifovna Preobrajenska (; born Preobrazhenskaya; – 27 December 1962) was a Russian ballerina of the Russian Imperial Ballet and a ballet instructor. Biography She was born in Saint Petersburg as Olga Preobrazhenskaya (the final sy ...

* Farukh Ruzimatov *

Leonid Sarafanov Leonid Sarafanov (born 28 June 1982 in Kyiv, Ukraine) is a principal ballet dancer with the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St Petersburg, Russia. Biography Leonid Sarafanov studied at the Kyiv State School of Choreography and graduated in 2000, joining ...

Marina Semyonova Marina Timofeyevna Semyonova (, , Saint Petersburg – 9 June 2010, Moscow) was the first Soviet-trained prima ballerina. She was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1975, and a Hero of Socialist Labour in 1988. Early life The first great d ...

Konstantin Sergeyev Konstantin Mikhailovich Sergeyev (; – 1 April 1992) was a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, ballet master, pedagogue and choreographer for the Kirov Theatre. When the Kirov Ballet returned to Leningrad from Perm (where it had been moved durin ...

Alla Sizova Alla Sizova (22 September 1939 – 23 November 2014) was a Russian ballet dancer, best known for her work with the Kirov Ballet. She was one of the four superstar ballerinas of the Soviet Union along with Natalia Makarova, Alla Osipenko and Irina ...

* Yuri Soloviev * Olga Spessivtzeva *

Galina Ulanova Galina Sergeyevna Ulanova (, ; 21 March 1998) was a Russian ballet dancer. She is frequently cited as being one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century. Biography Ulanova was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Both parents were the so ...

* Svetlana Zakharova *

Igor Zelensky Igor Anatolyevich Zelensky (; born 13 July 1969) is a Russian ballet dancer. Early life Zelensky was born on 13 July 1969, in Labinsk, Krasnodar Krai, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR. He was a principal at the Ma ...

References

External links

* **
Mariinsky Ballet International Tour Schedule

Additional Information/Pictures about the Mariinsky-Kirov Ballet

More information and interviews from the Kirov Ballet
*

Kennedy Center: Information about Mariinsky Ballet
accessed 4 October 2008 {{Authority control 1740 establishments in the Russian Empire History of ballet National Dance Award winners

History

Today

Repertoire

Dancers

Principals

First Soloists

Second Soloists

Character Soloists

Coryphées

Notable dancers

See also

References

External links