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Mariinsky ballet troupe waltzes across America captivating US audiences

The ballet was well received and well-reviewed

WASHINGTON DC, October 18. /TASS/ The Mariinsky Theater ballet troupe opened its traditional US tour in Washington DC on Tuesday. For the second time this year, the theater has brought La Bayadere ballet (The Temple Dancer) to the stage of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for six straight evenings.

The artists arrived in DC from California. "We had six performances at the Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts in the city of Costa Mesa, where we have been traditionally performing since 1989 - almost from the very opening of this theater [in 1986]," acting head of the ballet troupe Yury Fateyev told TASS.

"We showed Fokine ballet program titled the "Russian Seasons ", including Chopiniana, Le Spectre de la rose, the miniature The Dying Swan and Scheherazade. All four segments are united under the name of The Russian Seasons, as they were all shown in Sergei Diaghilev's theatrical entreprise during his shows in Paris and other European cities, all ballets were created by the choreographer Michel Fokine," Fateyev noted.

According to him, the ballet was well received and well-reviewed.

Fateyev explained that while this isn’t the first time that the Mariinsky theater brought La Bayadere to the US, the production has been revived, and will be performed in a new set, with new costumes, and of course, with new leads.

American children, from local ballet schools and middle schools will perform alongside Russian artists. Dance teachers came to Washington DC to work with them ahead of the performances of such numbers as The Golden Idol and the Manu dance.

"The children are ready. I think that they will fit into the performance on a good level," Fateyev said.

Before the current tour, the Mariinsky Theater had a 10-year contract with the Kennedy Center, which expired in 2012. However, cooperation is continuing as part of an annual engagement.

"Despite the increased tensions between the [two] countries, we have come here for the second time [this year], Fateyev noted, he went on to say that there can be no talk of any deterioration in relations between the Mariinsky Theater and the Kennedy Center.

He noted that the Mariinsky Theater may not come to Washington DC in 2018, as the Kennedy Center will be shaping its program, for a two-year season. "We will be here for the 2018-2019 season - in the winter of 2019 or in the autumn of 2018. So, we’ve already been here twice in one year, and then we missed a year," Fateyev said.