Bolshoi's return delights audiences

Performances in Beijing end five-year hiatus, Chen Nan reports.

The Bolshoi Ballet has returned to the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing after a five-year hiatus. From Tuesday to Sunday, four performances of the classic ballet Don Quixote and two gala shows are being staged at the national center. The symphony orchestra of the National Ballet of China will perform with the Bolshoi Ballet, under the baton of conductor Pavel Klinichev.

"We arrived yesterday and we immediately started rehearsals. It feels great to be back," said Makhar Vaziev, artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, on Monday, one day before the company's first performance at the national center.

"The warm feedback of the Chinese audience impressed us very much when we performed here last time. We know that ballet has a large fan base in China and it's particularly important to perform for Chinese audiences with the long friendship between China and Russia," says Vaziev. "Ballet is a classic art form and highly valued in Russia. It is an art form, which evolves and changes. We want to display the changes of the past five years, especially our young, talented dancers.

"It is a great experience to have an audience that enjoys and appreciates ballet. The applause was much warmer than we expected," he adds.

Principal dancers, including Elizaveta Kokoreva, Denis Rodkin, Igor Tsvirko and Eleonora Sevenard, are among the star-studded cast for the performances at the national center.

According to Vaziev, the Bolshoi Ballet has performed in China multiple times. In 2001, the company staged the classic, Swan Lake, in Shanghai and Beijing. In 2006, artists of the opera and ballet troupes, and the orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre gave two concerts in Beijing, marking the opening of the Year of Russia in China.

In 2010, the Bolshoi Ballet performed at the National Centre for the Performing Arts for the first time, with ballet productions: The Pharaoh's Daughter, a ballet choreographed by Marius Petipa, to the music of Cesare Pugni, and Don Quixote with music by Ludwig Minkus and choreography by Petipa.