On 26 June, the historical Bolshoi Theatre venue in Moscow is set to host the Benoit de la Danse Gala, celebrating the Benoit de la Danse prize winners of the years past. The action-packed, star-studded programme for the evening will include a fragment from the Cheeky Chastushki ballet. The dancers from Leonid Yacobson Ballet Theatre are both delighted and proud to showcase this zestful, wild, high-energy choreographic text, composed by Vyacheslav Samodurov specifically for our troupe, in front of the sophisticated Moscow audience and masters of world choreography.

The next stop on our summer tour route is Yerevan. Our previous visit there took place over a year ago, as we delighted the capital of Armenia with Don Quixote last spring. This time around, in 2024, we are touring with The Sleeping Beauty. There will be three showings total at the Armenian National Opera and Ballet Theatre named after Alexander Spendiaryan: in the evening on 21 June and in the afternoon and evening on 22 June.

The birth anniversary of the great poet Alexander Pushkin is a monumental occasion for the entirety of Russian culture. This year’s celebration on 6 June is particularly special, as the legendary Pushkin was born exactly 225 years ago. It may not be a round date, but it just means the festivities will be full of warmth rather than stiff pomp and overblown speeches. You cannot help but recall how playwright Alexander Ostrovsky referred to Pushkin’s birthday as a grand holiday in our streets.

We are starting our summer with a tour. The Leonid Yacobson Ballet Theatre has been invited to Minsk, where the Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus is currently hosting the Ballet Summer Festival. This is the 10th iteration of the event, which has become a tradition by now. This year, the Festival celebrates four choreographers, representing a variety of styles and historical eras. They are: Marius Petipa, Leonid Yacobson, Boris Eifman, and Valentin Elizariev.