The Bolshoi Ballet, one of the best-known and most widely lauded ballet companies in history, was founded in 1776 in Moscow—thirty-six years after the Kirov Ballet in Saint Petersburg. The two extraordinary companies pushed each other, over the decades and the centuries, to seek ever greater heights and to develop their own unique styles; the Bolshoi's, sometimes considered more lively and athletic than that of the Kirov, has been articulated and refined by some of the most legendary names ever to grace the ballet stage. You'll find dozens of them dancing to the repertoire's favorite works—plus a few lesser-known gems—in this exceptional compilation, the fruit of multiple years of archival research through footage never before seen in the West.
In this treasure trove of ballet highlights, you'll find Galina Ulanova in Les Sylphides, Maya Plisetskaya in The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, Ekaterina Maximova and Vladimir Vasiliev in Don Quixote and plenty more, all captured on film in priceless recordings, some of which are over a century old. This is a veritable ballet encyclopedia, a time capsule that preserves pieces of history—not just of the storied Bolshoi, but also of the artform of dance itself.
This is just one of many beautiful ballets available on medici.tv, the web's leading classical music streaming platform!
