Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg
Mariinsky Ballet 2011
50th Anniversary Season
Royal Opera House, London
This summer we celebrate the golden jubilee of that visit with another season - one of so many happy returns - under that same banner. Much, vastly much, has changed in the world, and especially in Russia, in these five decades, typified by the reversion of Leningrad to its Imperial title of St. Petersburg and the name of the Mariinsky Opera House to its original tribute to the Tsarina Marie.
Yet one immutable fact remains for ballet-goers, and that is the nobility and grace of the dancing which the Mariinsky artists displayed in 1961, and still marvellously show us. We see artistry that is eloquent as the Russian spirit that inspires it, elegant as the grand architecture that houses it, spacious as the Imperial heart of the beautiful city that is its home.
