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Summer of Ballet
Throughout the glorious White Nights the Mikhailovsky Theatre is presenting the finest ballets in the repertoire of classical ballet. With the arrival of the warm summer evenings, when the chestnut trees are in bloom on Arts Square, and the scent of lilac drifts in from the Field of Mars, these immortal classics take on a special charm, appearing excitingly new.


Swan Lake will, as per tradition, be the centrepiece of the repertoire in June and July. Seen all over the world as the embodiment of Russian ballet, Swan Lake will be performed almost every week, finally closing the season on 29 July. Theatregoers may see Irina Perren or Ekaterina Borchenko in the role of Odette/Odile, while the part of Siegfried will on several occasions be played by Leonid Sarafanov.

Viewers always fall in love with Sleeping Beauty, an enchanting spectacle created by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. This great three-act production is often called an ‘encyclopaedia of ballet’: there is no other work in the repertoire that so fully employs all the potential of classical dance.

The summer programme also features the romantic ballet Giselle, ou Les Wilis, the bright Oriental flair of Le Corsaire; and The Nutcracker, full of poetry and elements of the grotesque. Another ballet that never fails to charm the audience is La Bayadère, a blend of the exoticism of the East and the classical perfection of the renowned scene The Kingdom of the Shades — a contrast that creates emotional tension and aesthetic harmony.

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The Nutcracker 3 June
The Sleeping Beauty 6 June
The Sleeping Beauty 7 June (starring Irina Perren and Leonid Sarafanov)
Swan Lake 9 June (starring Ekaterina Borchenko)
Swan Lake 10 June
Swan Lake 20 June (starring Irina Perren)
Swan Lake 21 June (starring Ekaterina Borchenko)
Le Corsaire 23 June
Giselle (Les Wilis) 25 June
Swan Lake 29 June (starring Ekaterina Borchenko and Vadim Muntagirov)
Swan Lake 30 June (starring Irina Perren and Leonid Sarafanov)
The Sleeping Beauty 3 July
The Sleeping Beauty 4 July
La Bayadère 8 July (starring Leonid Sarafanov)
Swan Lake 18 July (starring Irina Perren)
Swan Lake 19 July
The Sleeping Beauty 21 July (starring Ekaterina Borchenko and Irina Perren)
The Nutcracker 23 July
Swan Lake 25 July (starring Ekaterina Borchenko)
Swan Lake 27 July (starring Ekaterina Borchenko and Oleg Kharyutkin)
Swan Lake 29 July (starring Irina Perren and Leonid Sarafanov)