May 12 2008
Russian Ballet
Russian Imperial Ballet
Russian Imperial Corps de Ballet in 1893
The first ballet company was the Imperial School of Ballet in St. Petersburg in the first half of 18th century. The original purpose of the ballet in Russia was to entertain royal family and its court. This went on for quite a while and only in the early 19th century, the theaters became available to non-wealthy people, if they could only afford a ticket. For this purpose theaters created a special place “rayok”. This seating section consisted of extremely simple wooden benches.
Among the greatest representative of Russian Imperial Ballet and its school were:
- Avdotia Istomina
- Paul Gerdt
- Olga Preobrajenska
- Mathilde Kschessinska
- Anna Pavlova
- Tamara Karsavina
- Olga Spesivtseva
- Vaslav Nijinsky
- George Balanchine
- Lydia Lopokova
