PHOTO GALLERIES

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY, ROYAL BALLET OF FLANDERS/KONINKLIJK BALLET VAN VLAANDEREN, 2012 Piotr Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty was staged for the Royal Ballet of Flanders by Marcia Haydée in June 2006. Sets and costumes were designed by Pablo Nuñez. Light design by Nuñez and Haydéâe. The following series was photographed during the revival of the production in Antwerp, January 2012. The leading roles were performed by Altea Nuñez (Princess Aurora), Ernesto Boada (Prince Désiré), Alain Honorez (Carabosse) and Maria Seletskaya (Lilac Fairy). Photos with kind permission of Kathryn Bennetts, artistic director of the Royal Ballet of Flanders.

LES ETOILES DU 21e SIECLE, PARIS 2012 Photo selection from the annual ballet gala Etoiles du XXIe Siècle at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris (13-15 January 2012). The 14th edition featured Alezsja Popova and Maté Bako (Hungarian National Ballet), Lali Kandelaki and Vasil Akhmeteli (Ballet of the Opera of Tbilisi), Davit Galstyan (Ballet du Capitole de Toulouse), Alys Shee (Canadian Ballet Theatre), Evan McKie (Stuttgart Ballet), Elisa Carrillo Cabrera, Yana Salenko, Mikhail Kaniskin, Marian Walter (Berlin State Ballet), Yolanda Correa and Yoel Carreno (Ballet of the Opera of Oslo) Photos with kind permission of Richard Stéphant / Sherwood Productions and Franck Peyrinaud, Ovation & C°.

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY - BOLSHOI BALLET 2011 The first ballet performed in the renovated Bolshoi Theatre was Peter Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty in a new staging by Yuri Grigorovich. Sets were designed by Ezio Frigerio, costumes by Franca Squarciapino. Light design by Vinicio Cheli. Music direction by Vasili Sinaisky. The premiere took place on 18 November 2011 and featured Svetlana Zakharova and David Hallberg in the main roles. A second cast was headed by Nina Kaptsova and Alexander Volchkov. At the issue of the performance on 19 November Kaptsova was promoted to principal ballerina by director Sergei Filin. Photos with kind permission of the Bolshoi Theatre. Special thanks to Katerina Novikova. Gallery 1 - Gallery 2

SWAN LAKE - DUTCH NATIONAL BALLET 2011 The Dutch National Ballet is 50 years young. To mark this great anniversary some of the company's most acclaimed classical productions are revived. Swan Lake in the production by Rudi van Dantzig (1988) is considered a landmark in the history of dance in Holland. Sets and costumes are designed by Toer van Schayk, lights by Jan Hofstra. The premiere of this revival took place at the Muziektheater in Amsterdam on 17 October 2011. Photos with kind permission of the Dutch National Ballet.

THE PORTRAIT GALLERY Dancers seen from a different angle and through a different objective. Including portraits of Jurgita Dronina, Daria Khokhlova, Ekaterina Krysanova, Viktoria Litvinova, Andrei Merkuriev, Evgenia Obraztsova, Anna Okuneva and Natalia Osipova.

SYMPHONY OF PSALMS, BOLSHOI BALLET - 2011 Jirí Kylián's Symphony of Psalms (1978) set to music by Igor Stravinsky was staged at the Bolshoi in a triple bill which also included George Balanchine's Rubies and Wayne McGregor's Chroma. The premiere took place on the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre on July 21, 2011. The ballet was rehearsed by Cora Bos-Kroese and Ken Ossola. Set design by William Katz, costumes by Joop Stokvis, light design by Joop Caboort, adapted by Kees Tjebbes. The premiere cast consisted of Chinara Alizade, Anna Balukova, Yulia Grebenshchikova, Yulia Lunkina, Maria Prorvich, Anna Rebetskaya, Anna Tikhomirova, Anzhelina Vorontsova, Yuri Baranov, Dmitry Dorokhov, Artem Ovcharenko, Anton Savichev, Alexander Smoliyaninov, Alexei Torgunakov, Igor Tsvirko and Dmitry Zagrebin. Photos with kind permission of the Bolshoi Theatre. Special thanks to Katerina Novikova.

CHROMA, BOLSHOI BALLET - 2011 Wayne McGregor staged his Chroma (created for the Royal Ballet in November 2006) for the Bolshoi Ballet. The premiere took place in Moscow on 21 July 2011 in a triple bill, which also included George Balanchine's Rubies and Jiri Kylian's Symphony of Psalms. Set design for Chroma is by John Pawson, costumes by Moritz Junge, lighting design by Lucy Carter. The premiere cast of Chroma featured Ekaterina Krysanova, Svetlana Lunkina, Ekaterina Shipulina, Viktoria Litvinova, Yan Godovsky, Maksim Surov, Vladislav Lantratov, Vyacheslav Lopatin, Artem Ovcharenko and Igor Tsvirko. The second cast featured Svetlana Lunkina, Anastasia Meskova, Anna Okuneva, Anastasia Stashkevich, Karim Abdullin, Dmitry Dorokhov, Alexei Koryagin, Vyacheslav Lopatin, Denis Savin and Aleksander Smolyaninov. Photos with kind permission of the Bolshoi Theatre. Special thanks to Katerina Novikova.

ONEGIN, ROYAL BALLET OF FLANDERS/KONINKLIJK BALLET VAN VLAANDEREN - 2011 John Cranko's ballet Onegin, based on Alexander Pushkin's famous novel in verse, was staged for the Royal Ballet of Flanders and premiered at the Flemish Opera in Antwerp on June 18, 2011. The new production was supervised by Reid Anderson and rehearsed by Jane Bourne. New sets and costumes were designed by Thomas Mika, light by Steen Bjarke. The premiere was danced by Aki Saito (Tatyana), Wim Vanlessen (Onegin), Yurie Matsuura (Olga), Wei Chen (Lensky) and Ricardo Amarante (Gremin). Photos by kind permission of Kathryn Bennetts, artistic director of the Royal Ballet of Flanders.

LES ETOILES POUR LE JAPON, MAY 31, 2011 International charity dance evening at the Palais des Congrès in Paris, organized to raise funds for the victims of the earthquake in Japan. The participants were: Carlos Acosta (Royal Ballet London), Michael Banzhaf (Berlin State Ballet), Ashley Bouder (New York City Ballet), Jiri Bubenicek (Semperoper Ballet Dresden), Otto Bubenicek (Hamburg Ballet), Elisa Carrillo Cabrera (Berlin State Ballet), Isabelle Ciaravola (Opéra National de Paris), Marlon Dino (Munich State Ballet), Olga Esina (Vienna State Opera Ballet), Julien Favreau (Bejart Ballet Lausanne), Mathieu Ganio (Opéra National de Paris), Dimitri Gruzdev (English National Ballet), Sue Jin Kang (Stuttgart Ballet), Mikhail Kaninskin (Berlin State Ballet), Maria Kochetkova (San Francisco Ballet), Igor Kolb (Mariinsky Theatre), Elena Kuzmina (Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg), Lucia Lacarra (Munich State Ballet), Roman Lazik (Vienna State Opera Ballet), Andrei Merkuriev (Bolshoi Theatre), Shoko Nakamura (Berlin State Ballet), Fernanda Oliveira (English National Ballet), Sergei Polunin (Royal Ballet London), Marijn Rademaker (Stuttgart Ballet), Jason Reilly (Stuttgart Ballet), Kateryna Shalkina (Bejart Ballet Lausanne), Friedemann Vogel (Stuttgart Ballet), Igor Zelensky (Mariinsky Theatre), pupils of the Ecole de l'Opéra de Paris.

ULANOVA 100th ANNIVERSARY GALA - LONDON, MAY 15, 2011 The 6th edition of the Russian Ballet Icons organized by Ensemble Productions commemorated the 100th anniversary of Galina Sergeyevna Ulanova at the London Coliseum Theatre on May 15, 2011. Artists included Svetlana Zakharova, Svetlana Lunkina, Ekaterina Krysanova, Daria Khokhlova, Dmitri Gudanov, Vladislav Lantratov, Andrei Uvarov (Bolshoi Ballet), Uliana Lopatkina, Evgenia Obraztsova, Igor Zelensky (Mariinsky Ballet), Marat Shemiunov (Mikhailovsky Ballet), Nadia Saidakova, Vladimir Malakhov (Berlin State Ballet), Daria Klimentova, Vadim Muntagirov (English National Ballet), Olga Smirnova, Sergei Strelkov (Vaganova Ballet Academy), Tatiana Gorokhova (Novosibirsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre), Dorothée Gilbert (Paris Opera Ballet), David Makhateli, Thiago Soares (Royal Ballet), Bernice Coppieters and Alexis Oliveira (Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo). Gallery 1 - Gallery 2

EVGENIA OBRAZTSOVA IN SWAN LAKE - STANISLAVSKY BALLET The anticipated debut of Evgenia Obraztsova in Swan Lake took place in Moscow with the Stanislavsky Ballet. One of the most remarkable ballerinas of the Mariinsky Ballet, so far Obraztsova has been denied the much coveted role of Odette-Odile by her home company. Seeing her perform at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre on 23 April 2011 made that refusal look utterly pointless. Evgenia Obraztsova was joined by Semyon Chudin as Siegfried, Anton Domashev as Rothbart, and artists of the Stanislavsky Ballet. Choreography and staging by Vladimir Bourmeister. Choreography of the 2nd Act by Lev Ivanov, revived by Pyotr Gusev. Set design by Vladimir Arefiev. Photos with kind permission of V.G. Urin, General Director, and the artistic staff of the Stanislavsky Theatre. With special thanks to Vladimir Vasiliev and Marina Panfilovich.

LOST ILLUSIONS - BOLSHOI BALLET The world premiere of Alexei Ratmansky's ballet Lost Illusions, with a new score by Leonid Desyatnikov, set and costume design by Jérôme Kaplan and light design by Vincent Millet, took place at the Bolshoi Theatre on April 24, 2011. This 3-act ballet uses themes from the libretto by Vladimir Dmitriev (based on the novel by Honoré de Balzac), originally written for the 1936 production at the Kirov Theatre, with choreography by Rostislav Zakharov and music by Boris Asafiev. The premiere cast included Ivan Vasiliev (Lucien), Natalia Osipova (Coralie), Artem Ovcharenko (premier danseur) and Ekaterina Krysanova (Florine). A second cast was headed by Vladislav Lantratov, Svetlana Lunkina, Alexander Volchkov, and Ekaterina Shipulina. Photos with kind permission of the Bolshoi Theatre. Special thanks to Katerina Novikova. Gallery 1 - Gallery 2

LES SAISONS RUSSES DU XXIe SIÈCLE Homage to the Ballets Russes at the Theâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris (March-April 2011), organized by the Maris Liepa Foundation, SAV Entertainment and the Kremlin Ballet Company. Artistic Direction Andris Liepa and Andrei Petrov. This edition contained three ballets from Mikhail Fokine - Chopiniana, Petrushka and the Polovtsian Dances from Alexander Borodin's Prince Igor. Artists of the Kremlin Ballet were joined by veteran star Vladimir Derevianko, Bolshoi Ballet principals Marianna Ryzhkina and Nikolai Tsiskaridze, and soloist Angelina Vorontsova. From the Mariinsky Ballet, Sergei Kokonenko performed with Ilze Liepa the Polovtsian Dances. Photos with kind permission of Richard Stéphant/Sherwood Productions and Franck Peyrinaud.

AKI SAITO & WIM VANLESSEN Aki Saito and Wim Vanlessen are principal dancers with the Royal Ballet of Flanders in Belgium. Graduates from the Royal Ballet School in Antwerp, they both have been dancing with the company since 1994 and were promoted to principals in 2004. Their repertory encompasses the great classics as well as contemporary work, including ballets from Maurice Béjart, William Forsythe, Jorma Elo, David Dawson, among others. Dancing together since their school days, Saito and Vanlessen developed a remarkable partnership which can also be appreciated in international galas.

A LA RUSSE - DUTCH NATIONAL BALLET 2011 Dutch National Ballet paid homage to Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Stravinsky with a quadruple bill featuring George Balanchine's Serenade and Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Krzysztof Pastor's Dumbarton Dances and the company premiere of Alexei Ratmansky's On The Dnieper, a ballet originally created for American Ballet Theatre in 2009. On The Dnieper received its Amsterdam premiere in the Muziektheater on 8 February 2011. Leading roles were performed by Igone de Jongh, Casey Herd, Anna Tsygankova, and Tamás Nagy. Photos with kind permission of Dutch National Ballet.

PRAGUE BALLET GALA 2011 6th edition of the Prague Ballet Gala taking place in the Prague Opera House, January 7 and 8, 2011. This year the event starred Jurgita Dronina, Tamas Nagy and Anna Tsygankova, (Dutch National Ballet), Nina Kaptsova and Artem Ovcharenko (Bolshoi Ballet), Aki Saito and Wim Vanlessen (Royal Ballet of Flanders), Davit Galstyan (Ballet du Capitole de Toulouse), Adeline Pastor (Aalto Ballett Theater Essen), Isabelle Ciaravola and Yann Saïz (Paris Opera Ballet). With special thanks to Jana Kurova, director and artistic director of the Prague Ballet Gala.

MAYA PLISETSKAYA 85 Homage to Maya Plisetskaya, prima ballerina assoluta turning 85. Gala evening hosted by the Maris Liepa Foundation at the Paris Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, 6 December 2010. Guests included Maria Alexandrova, Ilze Liepa, Mikhail Lobukhin, Andrei Merkuriev, Nikolai Tsiskaridze (Bolshoi Ballet), Alexandra Timofeyeva (Kremlin Ballet), Andrei Batalov (Mariinsky Ballet), Semyon Chudin (Stanislavsky Ballet), Ludmilla Konovalova (Vienna State Ballet), Ludmila Pagliero and Christophe Duquenne (Paris Opera Ballet). With special thanks to Richard Stéphant/Sherwood Productions and Franck Peyrinaud.

NATALIA OSIPOVA & IVAN VASILIEV IN THE REHEARSAL STUDIO The Bolshoi Ballet's young stars Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev rehearsing Don Quixote in the studio.

ETOILES DU XXIe SIECLE - PARIS, 2010 Selections from the gala-performances Etoiles du XXIe Siècle at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris (17-19 September 2010), featuring some of today's most brilliant and acclaimed artists in the field. Featuring Bin Hao, Ekaterina Krysanova, Aleksandra Liashenko, Ilja Louwen, Egor Menshikov, Andrei Merkuriev, Leo Mujic, Lucia Lacarra, Cyril Pierre, Iana Salenko, Daniil Simkin and Jian Zhang. With kind permission of Richard Stéphant / Sherwood Productions.

THE BOLSHOI BALLET IN LONDON 2010 Following its highly acclaimed 2006 and 2007 seasons the Bolshoi Ballet returned to London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 19 July - 8 August 2010, bringing 6 different programmes or 9 ballets. By the hazards of casting the bulk of this London season was largely carried by young stars Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev, who moreover performed in all photoshoots. Their prominence in this selection is therefore purely coincidental. With kind permission of the Bolshoi Theatre.

THE BOLSHOI BALLET'S PETRUSHKA Libretto by Igor Stravinsky and Alexandre Benois. Choreography by Mikhail Fokin (1911). Sets and Costumes by Alexandre Benois (for the production at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1921). Staging and new choreographic version: Sergei Vikharev. Sets reproduction by Boris Kaminsky, costumes reproduction by Yelena Zaitseva. Lighting Designer: Damir Ismagilov. Premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre on July 2, 2010. With kind permission of the Bolshoi Theatre.

LES SAISONS RUSSES DU XXIe SIECLE Homage to the Ballets Russes at the Theâtre des Champs-Elyées in Paris (March 4-7, 2010) with revivals of Mikhail Fokine's Le Pavillon d'Armide and The Firebird, and Vaslav Nijinsky's Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un Faune. Performed by the Kremlin Ballet Theatre company, with guest performances by Maria Alexandrova, Mikhail Lobukhin, Nikolai Tsiskaridze, Artem Yachmennikov (Bolshoi Ballet) and Irma Nioradze (Mariinsky Ballet). With kind permission of Richard Stéphant / Sherwood Productions.

THE DUTCH NATIONAL BALLET IN DON QUIXOTE Selections from Dutch National Ballet's Don Quixote in the new staging by Alexei Ratmansky, premiered at the Muziektheater in Amsterdam on February 13, 2010. Opening night's cast featured Anna Tsygankova as Kitri, Matthew Golding as Basilio, Peter de Jong as Don Quixote, Karel de Rooy as Sancho, Maia Makhateli as Cupid, Anu Viheriäranta as Queen of the Dryads. With kind permission of the artistic staff and the press department of the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam.

GISELLE IN ROME Selections from Giselle in the production of the Teatro dell' Opera in Rome (February 23 and 25, 2010). Leading roles were danced by guest stars Evgenia Obraztsova (Mariinsky Ballet) and David Makhateli (Royal Ballet), Ashley Bouder (New York City Ballet) and Robert Tewsley. With special thanks to Beppe Menegatti, Carla Fracci and the staff of Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.

THE BOLSHOI BALLET'S LA ESMERALDA A new staging and choreographic version by Yuri Burlaka and Vasily Medvedev of Jules Perrot's romantic ballet La Esmeralda (1844), revised by Marius Petipa, was premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre on 25 December 2009. A selection of the three premiere casts headed by Maria Alexandrova, Natalia Osipova and Nina Kaptsova. With kind permission of the Bolshoi Theatre.

STARS OF THE 21st CENTURY Selections from two galas: Etoiles de Ballet2000 in Cannes (29 november 2008) and Etoiles du XXIe Siècle in Theatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris (20 September 2009) With kind permission of Richard Stéphant / Sherwood Productions.

THE BOLSHOI BALLET'S SPARTACUS (2) Several new artists have been reviving the leading roles in the Bolshoi's Ballet's Spartacus. The following selection, shot September 5-10, 2009 covers three casts: Ivan Vasiliev (Spartacus), Nina Kaptsova (Phrygia), Alexander Volchkov (Crassus), Ekaterina Shipulina (Aegina); Pavel Dmitrichenko, Anna Nikulina, Yuri Baranov, Maria Alexandrova; Egor Khromushin, Anna Antonicheva, Andrei Merkuriev, Ekaterina Krysanova. With special thanks to the Bolshoi Theatre and the Teatro Real in Madrid.

LES SAISONS RUSSES A celebration of the centenary of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes (1909-2009) by the Kremlin Ballet from Moscow at the Th??tre des Champs-Elys?es in Paris. Featuring principals and soloists from Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theatres. With kind permission of Richard Stéphant / Sherwood Productions.

THE BOLSHOI BALLET'S SPARTACUS (1) Photos of one of the Bolshoi Ballet's most famous productions, Yuri Grigorovich's Spartacus. Premiered in Moscow in 1968 with music by Aram Khachaturian and designs by Simon Virsaladze, it proved the most successful staging of the ballet to date. With kind permission of the Bolshoi Theatre.

SVETLANA ZAKHAROVA GALA PERFORMANCE 2009 Photos of the Svetlana Zakharova Gala Performance at the Bolshoi Theatre on April 9, 2009. The evening included the world premiere of "Zakharova Super Game", a one-act ballet with choreography by Francesco Ventriglia. The second part of the evening consisted of a divertissement, including among others Revelation (chor. M. Hirayama), the duet of Tristan and Isolde from Tristan (chor. K. Pastor), a duet from Legend of Love (chor. Y. Grigorovich), Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux and fragments from Who Cares, Serenade and Symphony in C (chor. G. Balanchine). With kind permission of the Bolshoi Theatre.

AFTER THE SHOW Some impressions from backstage, after the curtain came down.

COPPELIA AT THE BOLSHOI Photos of the revival and new choreographic version of Marius Petipa's 1894 Coppelia by Sergei Vikharev. With sets by Boris Kaminsky, costumes by Tatiana Noginova. Music Director: Igor Dronov. Lighting Designer: Damir Ismagilov. Featuring Maria Alexandrova and Ruslan Skvortsov, Natalia Osipova and Vyacheslav Lopatin. Premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre on 12 March 2009. With kind permission of the Bolshoi Theatre.

OSIPOVA & OVCHARENKO REHEARSING SYMPHONY IN C Photos of young Bolshoi soloists Natalia Osipova and Artem Ovcharenko rehearsing the 3rd movement from Balanchine's Symphony in C in the studio. With kind permission of the Bolshoi Theatre.

PRAGUE BALLET GALA 2009 4th edition of the Prague Ballet Gala at the Prague National Opera on 9 January 2009, organised by the The Prague International Ballet, Jana Kurova, Director and Artistic Director. With international guests from B?jart Ballet Lausanne, Bolshoi Ballet, Cuban National Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet and Royal Ballet of Flanders. With kind permission of the Prague Ballet Gala.

RUSSIAN SEASONS AT THE BOLSHOI Photos of Russian Seasons, ballet in 1 Act, set to music by Leonid Desyatnikov, choreography by Alexei Ratmansky, originally created for New York City Ballet. Premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre on November 15, 2008. Featuring Natalia Osipova, Ekaterina Shipulina, Andrei Merkuriev, Denis Savin and artists of the Bolshoi Ballet. With kind permission of the Bolshoi Theatre.