Bolshoi's return delights audiences

In 2018, the Bolshoi Ballet gave three performances of Le Corsaire, composed by Adolphe Adam and choreographed by Petipa, and The Flames of Paris, with choreography by Vasily Vainonen and music by Boris Asafyev, at the national center.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the ballet troupe brought galas featuring 11 excerpts of "some of the most brilliant pieces from the Bolshoi Ballet's repertoire which have been performed for centuries", the artistic director says, such as the pas de deux from the ballet The Talisman, the pas de deux from the ballet Swan Lake, and Adagio from the ballet Spartacus.

From Friday to Sunday, it will also stage Don Quixote, which Vaziev calls the company's "name card".

"Don Quixote is a special performance for Moscow," the Bolshoi Ballet's official website writes. "It is the only great classical ballet that was not transferred from Paris or St Petersburg, but originated here. Don Quixote was repeatedly re-created, revived and restored at the Bolshoi Theatre. …Don Quixote has served as a 'runway' for great ballet careers for over a century and is perfectly polished for this purpose."

The history of the ballet piece goes back to 1869 when choreographer Petipa remembered his eventful youth in Moscow. He traveled around the world in search of happiness and Spain became one of his havens. He put his love for the Spanish dances into the ballet Don Quixote, which gained the status of a classic. In 1900, Alexandr Gorsky, a young dancer and teacher, was sent to Moscow to re-create Don Quixote. He transformed Don Quixote into an arena of self-expression for many generations of dancers and choreographers to come.