Before the reign of Peter the Great, dance in Russia existed only among the common people, among the peasants and lowest classes living outside the city fortresses. The feudal nobility did not dance, but enjoyed the performances of dancing clowns, who were on the whole, men.
During the terrifying times of the Tartar-Mongolian invasion, the Orthodox Church was greatly solidified and strengthened. Under the impact of Christian ascetism, which included a dogma that held dancing to be sinful "satanic", a profound change began to take root in the people's consciousness.
Peter the Great's reforms brought the end of the predominance of theological elements in the outlook of the Russian ensembles. From the time that Peter the Great established dancing enssamblies in 1817, Peter the First’s daughters, the young Grand Duchesses Anna and Elizaveta, were in constant attendence.
In 1738, the first Dancing School was established in Russia under the decree of Empress Anna Ioannovna. A dance master of St.Petersburg Cadet Corps, Jean Baptiste Lande was to conduct the service of the palace… for education in theatrical dancing of different types.
The first "Her Majesty's Dancing School" was financed by the salt Office collecting taxes from salt mines.
Elizaveta Petrovna (the second daughter of Peter the Great) continued to patronage all types of dancing schools. It is known that two European schools were represented in the curriculum. "Serious" dance based on the French minuet was taught by Lande, then by his students. Methods of comic dance, arising from the Italian Commedia del'Arte, were taught by Italians.
With the development of Ballet Art in Russia both in St. Petersburg and in Moscow there appeared such names of famous Russian choreographers (IvanValberkh) and dancers as Yelizaveta Zorina, Avdotia Timofeeva, Aksinya Sergeeva.
The Moscow ballet school was greatly influenced by the artistic school of Mikhail Schepkin - that is a blending of a new dance technique with a new acting technique. This new technique was brought about into ballet by ballerina Sankovskaya in her debut in La Sylphide.
The production of Swan Lake on January 15, 1895 on the stage of the Maryinskiy theater in St. Petersburg (the one's at the Bolshoi theater in Moscow were unsuccessful) presented a singular model for the development of ballet, followed for years to come. The path for the structure of symphonic dance, the idea for the directorial work in a theatrical production, the dramatic forms of the score for a ballet - all these were brought forward on that day by the French Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. This was the "starry hour" of Russian ballet.
Russian ballet of the 20-th century was ornamented by such names as Anna Pavlova, Kschessinskaya, Galina Ulanova, Maya Plesetskaya and many others.
Russian ballet is also famous with the names of such artists as Vasilyev, Semenyaka, Volochkova, Ananiashvily and others.
The "Ballet Season" generally runs from September to June. St. Petersburg is noted for its Mariinskiy Ballet, formerly known as the Kirov Ballet and its classic performances of Swan Lake (Lebedinoe Ozero) and Zhizel, Boyaderka, Silfida. The Academy of Ballet n.a. A. Vaganova has taught many of Russia's major ballet stars.
TYP Note: The top performers of the Mariinskiy Ballet are often on tour especially during the summer.