Russian Companies – Landgraf on Dance

12. September 2026

Focused

“Anna Karenina”
Ballet of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre
Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre
Moscow, Russia
September 05, 2026 (evening performance)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

Over the past twenty years, Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina has become increasingly popular among choreographers. In 2011, the Mariinsky Ballet toured Alexei Ratmansky’s 2004 adaptation to Baden-Baden. It told the story in retrospect, beginning with the heroine’s suicide, and it revolved primarily around her. I only remember Anna’s red dress, trains, and a lot of steam. Christian Spuck’s 2014 version for Zurich Ballet tried to retell the story in jam-packed, hectically changing scenes while wasting time on insignificant aspects. In John Neumeier’s 2017 ballet, Vronsky was a fancy lacrosse player, and the story was infused with sentimentality (I well remember its bare-chested Levin with a cowboy hat, sitting on a stack of straw next to an old farm tractor with his arms enthusiastically stretched toward a full moon and accompanied by Cat Stevens’s Moonshadow).
I don’t know Boris Eifman’s 2005 Anna Karenina and haven’t yet seen Maxim Petrov’s new version for the Bolshoi Ballet, which is set to Rodion Shchedrin’s 1972 score. Yuri Possokhov’s 2019 co-production for the Joffrey Ballet and the Australian Ballet was fabulous. Ilya Demutsky tailor-made the score, and the Stanislavsky Ballet’s artistic director, Maxim Sevagin, used it for his July premiere of Anna Karenina.

Demutsky and Sevagin rearranged the colorful cinematic composition’s numbers to fit Andrei Zolotarev’s new libretto. To judge in which Anna Karenina (Possokhov’s or Sevagin’s) score and libretto match better, I’d have to re-watch Possokhov’s ballet. In any case, the new musical arrangement sounded apt. Mezzo-soprano singing (by Larisa Andreeva) no longer forebodes an old station guard’s imminent death (this scene does not exist in Sevagin’s piece), for example. However, as Voice of Fate, it intensifies Anna’s desperation after being rejected by Vronsky. The noise that literally catapults them both apart sounds like the Big Bang. Andreeva also plays both Anna’s double at the theater, where society openly shuns her, and Levin’s old nurse, Agafya Mikhailovna, praising the country life. Her tender singing lulls Kitty’s and Levin’s son, Mitja (Augustin Dmitriev), into a slumber.

Sevagin focused on the protagonists’ relationships, especially the contrast between Anna’s and Vronsky’s destructive passion and Kitty’s and Levin’s spiritually balanced family happiness. The latter couldn’t be harmed when Anna, isolated and utterly despairing, threw herself at Levin. Sometimes the stage was parted to juxtapose country life with the city’s high society. Subtly, country life always looked the better choice. It seemed more sincere, warm, and genuine.

Vladimir Arefiev’s minimalist set design includes black backdrops and legs that obscure anything unnecessary, but after Anna (Erika Mikirticheva) is humiliated by her husband, Karenin (Georgi Smilevski), and the household staff shows her the door, the set also resembles a suffocating box with no escape. Vertical openings in the backdrop serve as doors or, when lit, indicate the setting or atmosphere. Their color turns late-summer yellow to allude to the countryside or rose when Kitty (Anastasia Limenko) and Levin (Evgeny Zhukov) finally come together.

Rollable set elements (for example, the bed in which Anna gives birth, Kitty’s boudoir, and Karenin’s stuffy bureau) allow for smooth scene changes. The stately chandelier carried onstage and slowly lifted illuminates the ball where Kitty is horrified by the burgeoning romance between Anna and Vronsky (Denis Dmitriev). It is later replaced by a huge lantern under which Vronsky and Anna meet. For those unfamiliar with the novel, this lantern stands for the platform where they meet. In any case, the dissonant sub-layers that disturb the music’s harmony bode ill for their romance. The same lantern later crashes and shatters, its extinguishing light symbolizing Anna’s suicide.

Unlike Zurich’s Anna Karenina, which didn’t have costumes to identify the protagonists, Irina Serova’s designs characterize them well without stealing the show. Karenin’s jacket is as buttoned-up as he is. Stricken by financial worries, Dolly (Daria Yurchenko) wears a plain, blue-grayish dress reminiscent of a housemaid and puts on a better dress only at special occasions. Levin isn’t masquerading as a cowboy, but in his leather jacket with sheepskin trimming and fur cap, he looks like a down-to-earth Russian peasant. For lack of a decent shirt, he arrives late to his wedding, leaving his bride exposed to the wedding party’s ironic comments.

Except for one scene in which white video rectangles flash like a picture gallery of Anna’s memories, Sevagin uses no video and instead condenses as much as possible in the choreography. At the horse race, for example, the crowd of spectators surges left and right, their necks craned, until Vronsky suddenly lies contorted on the racetrack’s wooden fence. In the first scene at the Oblonskys’ house, Stiva (Arthur Mkrtchan) is having a hot tête-à-tête with his children’s governess (Yekaterina Yanovskaya) when Anna arrives. She walks past Dolly, who stares at the scene, her four children standing like a protective shield in front of her. By simply laying her hand on her brother’s shoulder, Anna brings him to his knees, begging Dolly for forgiveness. Although Dolly gives in, their marriage remains fissured.

Wicker rocking chairs signify the German spa where Kitty recovers from her lost love and matures, thanks to her new friend Varenka (Anastasia Malyarova). Afterward, she readily accepts Levin’s advances. Again, clever choreography makes their encounter easy; fouetées and chassés carry Kitty from the spa on the stage’s right side toward the left, while à la seconde turns carry Levin from the countryside on the left side of the stage toward her. They fall in love at the center.

With fifteen scenes in total, Sevagin’s Anna Karenina has two more scenes than Possokhov’s (prologues and the epilogue included) but never feels rushed. Sevagin’s knack for efficiently conveying content gives him the freedom to present extended pas de deux and Kitty’s and Levin’s solemn wedding at length. It fells like the ballet’s core due to its spirituality. That Anna chose passion instead isn’t denounced. She condemns the two men who ruined her life—Karenin and Vronsky—while pushing them out of her mind. The darkness they fell into resembled an abyss.

Links:		Website of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre
		Anna Karenina, Channel One
Photos:	1.	Erika Mikirticheva (Anna Karenina) and Denis Dmitriev (Count Vronsky), “Anna Karenina” by Maxim Sevagin, Stanislavsky Ballet 2026 © MAMT/Karina Zhitkova
	2.	Erika Mikirticheva (Anna Karenina), “Anna Karenina” by Maxim Sevagin, Stanislavsky Ballet 2026 © MAMT/Karina Zhitkova
	3.	Erika Mikirticheva (Anna Karenina) and Denis Dmitriev (Count Vronsky), “Anna Karenina” by Maxim Sevagin, Stanislavsky Ballet 2026 © MAMT/Karina Zhitkova
	4.	Denis Dmitriev (Count Vronsky), Erika Mikirticheva (Anna Karenina), Georgi Smilevski (Alexei Karenin), and Saveli Peschetov (Seryozha); “Anna Karenina” by Maxim Sevagin, Stanislavsky Ballet 2026 © MAMT/Karina Zhitkova
	5.	Arthur Mkrtchan (Stiva Oblonsky) and Daria Yurchenko (Dolly Oblonskaya), “Anna Karenina” by Maxim Sevagin, Stanislavsky Ballet 2026 © MAMT/Alexander Filkin
	6.	Georgi Smilevski (Alexei Karenin) and Erika Mikirticheva (Anna Karenina), “Anna Karenina” by Maxim Sevagin, Stanislavsky Ballet 2026 © MAMT/Karina Zhitkova
	7.	Georgi Smilevski (Alexei Karenin) and Erika Mikirticheva (Anna Karenina), “Anna Karenina” by Maxim Sevagin, Stanislavsky Ballet 2026 © MAMT/Alexander Filkin
	8.	Georgi Smilevski (Alexei Karenin), Erika Mikirticheva (Anna Karenina), and Denis Dmitriev (Count Vronsky), “Anna Karenina” by Maxim Sevagin, Stanislavsky Ballet 2026 © MAMT/Karina Zhitkova
	9.	Denis Dmitriev (Count Vronsky) and Erika Mikirticheva (Anna Karenina), “Anna Karenina” by Maxim Sevagin, Stanislavsky Ballet 2026 © MAMT/Alexander Filkin
	10.	Anastasia Limenko (Kitty Shcherbatskaya) and Evgeny Zhukov (Kostya Levin), “Anna Karenina” by Maxim Sevagin, Stanislavsky Ballet 2026 © MAMT/Alexander Filkin
	11.	Larisa Andreeva (Agafya Mikhailovna), Augustin Dmitriev (Mitja), Anastasia Limenko (Kitty Shcherbatskaya), and Evgeny Zhukov (Kostya Levin); “Anna Karenina” by Maxim Sevagin, Stanislavsky Ballet 2026 © MAMT/Alexander Filkin
Editing:		Kayla Kauffman

9. September 202612. September 2026

First Time

“Cinderella”
Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
September 05, 2026 (Historic Stage)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

Of the two Cinderellas that premiered last May on major Russian stages in celebration of Sergei Prokofiev’s 135th birthday anniversary, I saw Nadezha Kalinina’s version for the Kazan Ballet a few weeks later on video. With some delay, I got to know Vyacheslav Lopatin’s Cinderella for the Bolshoi Ballet last Saturday during the new season’s opening matinee. Lopatin, principal of the company and fledgling ballet master, had never choreographed before. Giving his debut with no less than a full-blown production was due to the artistic director’s, Makhar Vaziev’s, encouragement and support. The outcome isn’t (and realistically couldn’t be) mind-boggling, but it is respectable.

Continue reading “First Time”

12. August 20269. September 2026

Torn Between Two

“Elláda” (“Minotaur”/“Leda and the Swans”)
MuzArts
Maly Theatre
Moscow, Russia
June 15 and 22, 2026 (video)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

In mid-June, Moscow’s production company MuzArts premiered the double bill Elláda at the Maly Theatre. Moscow’s local press called MuzArts’ director, Yuri Baranov, “Russia’s current top ballet producer with an excellent grasp on the global ballet scene who knows how to create ideas, discover and recruit talent, and attract sponsors,”—in short, a Diaghilev 2.0. So I was glad that MuzArts’ executive producer, Daria Faezova, sent video recordings of both performances. If a company is in the vanguard of a dance scene as vibrant as Russia’s, you won’t want to miss their productions. Continue reading “Torn Between Two”

15. July 202629. July 2026

A Swansong and a Phoenix’s Rise from the Ashes

“Curtain Call”
Leonid Yacobson Ballet
Alexandrinsky Theatre
St. Petersburg, Russia
June 01, 2026 (video)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

Few ballets have been so ingenious and gripping that I stopped taking notes so as not to miss a single moment. Vyacheslav Samodurov’s new choreography, Curtain Call, for the Leonid Yacobson Ballet, St. Petersburg, was one of them. Luckily, I received a video that I could replay.
The one-act piece premiered in early June as part of a triple bill alongside a new creation by Igor Bulytsyn’s (Bruch. Suite) and Samodurov’s 2024 award-winning 598 Beats. In mid-July, the company assembled all three pieces Samodurov has created for them so far (including the 2022 Cheeky Chastushki) in a new triple bill.

Continue reading “A Swansong and a Phoenix’s Rise from the Ashes”

10. July 202615. July 2026

Stellar

XV International Ballet Competition—Laureates’ Gala
Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
July 05, 2026 (live stream)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

After three rounds of competition in ten days, the XV International Ballet Competition’s jury awarded medals, certificates, and diplomas to 50 of 131 contestants. Due to the high standards, discussions to determine the laureates continued late into the night after the final round. A laureates’ gala concert concluded the competition.

Of the seven gold medals, three were awarded to competitors from the USA and the Republic of Korea and one to a Japanese dancer. Russian dancers received seventeen prizes, Chinese six, and Mongolians four. Western Europe wasn’t represented, and only a few dancers from Central Europe scored: the Swede Auguste Marmus (bronze medal men, duet), coryphée and, as of late, Kammertänzer of the Hungarian National Ballet, the Serb Jana Zimonjic (bronze medal women, solo), and the Slovene Vid Vogrin (silver medal boys, duet). What mattered, though, wasn’t nationality but talent. Continue reading “Stellar”

4. July 202610. July 2026

“It is necessary to notice talent and to help it.”

XV International Ballet Competition
Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
June 25–July 05, 2026 (live streams)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

Last week, the International Ballet Competition kicked off in Moscow for the fifteenth time since its foundation in 1969. This year, it is dedicated to Yuri Grigorovich (1927–2025), the competition’s artistic director and permanent chairman of the jury for more than half a century. His Legend of Love, performed by the Mariinsky Ballet, opened the competition.

Held every four years, the International Ballet Competition is compared to an Olympic contest in which participation is an honor. This year, a record 362 dancers from thirty-five countries applied, of whom 131 were invited to Moscow. They compete in two age categories—the junior group, ages 15-19 years, and the senior group, ages 20-27 years (many of whom are leading members of a company)—each divided into solo performances and duets. Laureates will emerge from Continue reading ““It is necessary to notice talent and to help it.””

1. June 20269. September 2026

Cosmic Plans

“Cinderella”
Tartar State Academic Ballet
Jalil Opera and Ballet Tartar State Academic Theatre
Kazan, Russia
May 11, 2026 (video)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

Romeo and Juliet is inextricably linked to Sergei Prokofiev’s (1891-1953) music, but it’s less well known that he also composed the score for Cinderella. The ballet was the Bolshoi Theatre’s first post-war world premiere in 1945. One year later, a lighter, more fairy tale-like version premiered at the Kirov Theatre (now Mariinsky Theatre) in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). This year, Prokofiev would have celebrated his 135th birthday, and two new Cinderellas seem like respectable gifts. In mid-May, Nadezhda Kalinina’s version opened the 39th Rudolf Nureyev International Classical Ballet Festival in Kazan. Vyacheslav Lopatin’s debut choreography for his home company, the Bolshoi Ballet, followed closely on May 28th. I had the opportunity to watch a recording of Kazan’s Cinderella. Continue reading “Cosmic Plans”

11. April 202624. April 2026

A Man of Mystery

“Pushkin”
Ballet of the Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre
Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre
Krasnoyarsk, Russia
March 15, 2026 (video)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

Three years after Catharsis Dante, the Moscow-based choreographer Nikita Dmitrievsky created a second piece, Pushkin, for the Krasnoyarsk Ballet. Its two densely pact acts deal with Russia’s literary hero, Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), and his inner life and spiritual being. Except for the music, which is by Konstantin Borosov (his first ballet composition), Dmitrievsky was in charge of the entire production (i.e., the choreography, libretto, lighting, and set, costume, and video design). I had the opportunity to watch a video of the premiere, which took place on March 15th.

As the libretto comprises no fewer than twenty-seven scenes, becoming familiar with the synopsis in advance is highly recommended. Continue reading “A Man of Mystery”

30. March 202611. April 2026

A Conversation With Pavel Glukhov

Moscow, Russia
March 16, 2026 (video conference)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

In recent years, Pavel Glukhov has carved out a place for himself at the forefront of contemporary dance in Russia. Two of his latest pieces, Pavlova and Russian Character, were created for MuzArts; The Nutcracker. Not a Fairy Tale premiered with Ballet Moscow. Thanks to MuzArts’s executive producer, Daria Faezova, I was able to talk with him via video conference. Alexei Faezov kindly interpreted from Russian to English and vice versa.

What encouraged you to become a dancer? Were there any role models in your family or other sources of inspiration?
Actually, no one in my family is directly connected to art. I’m the only one. I started dancing around the age of nine. Once, when I was walking with a friend, we entered a culture club, which offered dancing classes, and I stayed there right away. I felt connected to it and liked it very much. Continue reading “A Conversation With Pavel Glukhov”

4. March 202625. March 2026

The Benchmark

“Coppélia”
Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre (New Stage)
Moscow, Russia
February 21, 2026 (evening performance)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

My hopes on a new video release were raised when I noticed the cameraman at the Bolshoi Ballet’s performance of Coppélia, until he explained that the recording was for internal use only. It’ll set the bar high for future generations of dancers.

Sergei Vikharev’s production, which he said is the most complete and exact rendition of what Nicholas Sergeyev noted from his St. Petersburg memories (his manuscripts are stored at Harvard University), has been in the Bolshoi’s repertory since 2009. It preserves all the details that fell victim to artistic, financial, and producing conditions in many Western stagings. Continue reading “The Benchmark”

28. February 20264. March 2026

Restorative

“The Snow Maiden”
Ballet of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre
Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre
Moscow, Russia
February 21, 2026 (matinee)

The legend of a girl made of snow who falls in love with a human but cannot survive the warmth of spring has its roots in Slavic mythology. The fairy tale entered the stage in 1873 when, due to the renovation of Moscow’s Maly Theatre, all three Imperial companies—drama, opera, and ballet—were accommodated by the Bolshoi Theatre. To seize the occasion, the management decided to unite them in a single fairy tale production. The Russian author Alexander Ostrovsky was commissioned for the libretto and Pyotr Tchaikovsky a composition. A few months later, Nikolay Rubinstein conducted the premiere. This marked the stage birth of The Snow Maiden. Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov’s 1880/81 opera version is also based on Ostrovsky’s libretto. Continue reading “Restorative”

26. February 202628. February 2026

Recovery

“The Nutcracker. Not a Fairy Tale”
Ballet Moscow
Novaya Opera Theatre
Moscow, Russia
February 20, 2026

The premiere of a new Nutcracker in late February sounded uncommon to my Western ears until I noticed the still festive decorations of Moscow’s streets and the growing piles of snow lining them. Snow also fell in Pavel Glukhov’s The Nutcracker. Not a Fairy Tale and much more fiercely than outside, as if to herald his version’s chilling content, the First World War. Told with warmth and ending happily, Glukhov’s Nutcracker has characteristics of a fairy tale but is recommended for children aged twelve and older. He choreographed it for Ballet Moscow, the home base of which is the Novaya Opera Theatre in the city center.

The story’s hero is Nathaniel, a figure E.T.A. Hoffmann created not for his The Nutcracker and the Mouse King but for his spooky The Sandman, which later served as the basis for Coppélia. A crossbreed between Coppelius, the Nutcracker, and Drosselmeyer, Glukhov’s Nathaniel is a puppet maker who specializes in wooden nutcrackers in military dress. Continue reading “Recovery”

25. February 202626. February 2026

Someone is in Control

“Master and Margarita”
Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre (New Stage)
Moscow, Russia
February 18/19, 2026

Around two years ago, I saw Edward Clug’s ballet adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita at the Bolshoi Theatre and found it fabulous. Last week’s two performances corroborated my impression. They also reminded me that, however chaotic the world might get, there’s no need to worry; someone is in control. In Clug’s version, it’s the Satan alias Woland and his accomplices. That hell and heaven commonly coordinate their actions went by the board.

Bulgakov intertwined two storylines (one deals with the absurd mayhem caused by Woland and his entourage on a 1930 visit to Moscow, the other is an eyewitness account of the trial of Jesus of Nazareth under Pontius Pilate’s governance), which are connected by the Master (an unrecognized Muskovit author, i.e., Bulgakov’s alter ego) and his muse, Margarita. Continue reading “Someone is in Control”

23. February 202625. February 2026

Heavy

“Planida” (“Russian Character”/“Nerve”/“Francesca da Rimini”)
MuzArts
Maly Theatre
Moscow, Russia
February 16, 2026

Due to popular demand, MuzArts’ triple bill Planida returned to the Maly Theatre this Monday. I was previously familiar only with the video production. Seeing it live opened new perspectives.
The cast of Pavel Glukhov’s Russian Character was the same; Alexei Putintsev portrayed the tanker, Yegor Dryomov; Elizaveta Kokoreva danced his bride, Katya; Ekaterina Krysanova and Mikhail Lobukhin played Yegor’s parents; and Georgy Gusev and Ivan Sorokin performed the roles of Yegor’s comrades. Continue reading “Heavy”

22. February 202623. February 2026

“I’m a supporter of talented people”

“Marco Spada”
Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre (Historic Stage)
Moscow, Russia
February 15, 2026

The Bolshoi Ballet has two choreographies by Pierre Lacotte (1932-2023) in its repertory: his recreation of Petipa’s La Fille du Pharaon (which he entrusted to no other company) and Marco Spada, a 1857 ballet d’action for the Paris Opéra by Joseph Mazilier to music by Daniel Auber, which was lost except for a few sketches and reviews. In 1981, Lacotte choreographed and staged it from scratch for the Teatro Dell’Opera di Roma with Rudolf Nureyev in the title role. Despite being peripatetic, Nureyev was so eager to participate in the production that he signed a contract on the tablecloth during a restaurant outing with Lacotte. “I, Rudolf Nureyev, guarantee that for the duration of a month I will attend daily rehearsals in Rome for the ballet Marco Spada,” he wrote.

Continue reading ““I’m a supporter of talented people””