Choreographer Alexander Gorsky after Marius Petipa
Music Ludwig Minkus

"The bedrock of classical ballet purity and sophistication" The New York Times

"A dance-packed feast of humour, romance, and a touch of fantasy... this bustling Russian classic is still hard to resist" The Times

"A Don Quixote that was sensationally spirited, sunny, even swarthy - in a word, blood-pumping" San Francisco Chronicle

Petipa's sparkling interpretation of
Cervantes' tale of romance and chivalry

Irresistible, vivacious, festive

Don Quixote has enthralled audiences for 140 years. Created by the Mariinsky's Marius Petipa whose iconic works define classical ballet, Don Quixote showcases this legendary company at its joyous best.

The spectacular solo and ensemble dancing in Don Quixote perfectly captures the Company's brilliance – from the famous grand pas de deux for lovers Kitri and Basilio to virtuosic solos for a street dancer and Espada the toreador, from the corps de ballet's beautiful dream sequence to jubilant gypsy and oriental dances.

The Mariinsky's high-spirited Don Quixote is guaranteed to delight the whole family.

The Mariinsky Ballet

The Mariinsky Ballet began as the Russian court's Imperial Theatre School in the 18th century. Known as the Kirov Ballet during the Soviet times, the Company's unmistakable and graceful style – a combination of superb technique and eloquent interpretative skills, and with a corps de ballet world famous for precision and unity – sets the benchmark of perfection.

Natasha Razina, V. Baranovsky

Moscow is the political capital of Russia. St Petersburg has the Mariinsky Ballet, a greater classical ballet company than Moscow's Bolshoi. The Mariinsky has the distinction of tracing its roots to the Imperial Theatre which was established in 1783 at the behest of Catherine the Great when St Petersburg was the Tsars' capital.

Nearly all legendary ballet luminaries who are household names hailed from the Mariinsky – from Vaslav Nijinsky, Tamara Karsavina and Anna Pavlova in the first half of the 20th century to the famous defectors in the latter half of the century such as Rudolf Nureyev, Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov.

After Baryshnikov's defection in Canada in 1974, the troupe of more than 200 dancers did not tour the West much until the mid 1980s. Since then, the company has organised extensive and regular world tours. It has visited Hong Kong twice, in 1998 and 2002. It is most timely that the Mariinsky is returning in 2010 for the 38th Hong Kong Arts Festival.

I interviewed the ballet company's acting artistic director, Yuri Fateyev, recently in his spacious office inside the Mariinsky Theatre. As a former dancer and main repetiteur for the company's large repertory of Balanchine's ballets, the 45-year-old Fateyev values the continuation of his predecessor Makhar Vaziev's policies: "The main issues for me are to keep the company in good shape, to achieve the highest standard of performance that has been the norm here for centuries, and to bring up new young dancers."

Fateyev's extensive coaching experience at home and overseas, as guest teacher to The Royal Ballet in London and other companies, also informs his vision for the Mariinsky Ballet's artistic development: "There are three major policies. The first is to keep up the classical repertoire as we have it, and to maintain it to the highest standards. The second is to find new choreographers, to introduce new choreographies for the company. The third is to look into the artistic history of the Mariinsky Theatre, and to consider which ballets deserve to be restored or restaged."

The company certainly has a glorious past and is rich in classical repertory. Definitive classics such as Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty were created at the Mariinsky Theatre by Marius Petipa, the greatest 19th century choreographer. Appropriately, the Mariinsky will bring Petipa's Don Quixote to Hong Kong.

The production of Don Quixote, restored by Alexander Gorsky in 1902, is the most purely dance-based of all existing versions. It radiates an irresistible delight in dancing and rightly avoids the clumsy theatrics featured in Nureyev’s own adaptation in the Paris Opera Ballet's repertory. Dramatically, the storyline is also more logical than the Bolshoi version.

The ballet follows the self-proclaimed knight Don Quixote’s encounters with young lovers Kitri and Basilio. Kitri, the alluring daughter of innkeeper Lorenzo, is in love with a penniless barber named Basilio. However, her father prefers Gamache, a rich, pompous nobleman. Struck by Kitri’s beauty and her resemblance to Dulcinea – the exquisite apparition in his dreams, Don Quixote helps the couple to win Lorenzo's blessing.

The wanderings of Don Quixote provide rich settings for cheerful choreography and spectacular display of technique. Kitri and Basilio's final grand pas de deux is frequently performed in ballet galas for its flamboyant technical fireworks. There are exciting virtuosic solos by a flirtatious female street dancer and Espada the toreador. The latter is often excluded in other versions. Besides the abundance of graceful classical dancing, there is a substantial amount of lively character dancing – a crowning glory of the Mariinsky Ballet – exemplified by energetic ensembles of oriental and gypsy dances.

The dream scene of Don Quixote is perfect for showing off the female corps de ballet. Even though it is still glorious, the physical perfection and unity of the ballerinas are not as impressive as when I first watched the company on tour in Paris two decades ago. Fateyev disagreed, “I don’t think so. If you look at the recordings of the 1970s and 1980s, you will find that the physiques have changed. The standard has actually risen. Maya Plisetskaya [Bolshoi’s former prima ballerina assoluta], who attended our Mariinsky Festival in March, said that the corps de ballet dancers have never danced as well as now.”

The Mariinsky Ballet has, in the past 226 years, produced more superstars than any other companies. How do the current stars continue their predecessors’ legacy? For Fateyev, it is to maintain the delicate balance of schedules – performing in the Mariinsky Theatre as well as dancing overseas as guest artists: “Diana Vishneva has danced eight performances this season. During this year Uliana Lopatkina is giving two or three performances here every month. Igor Zelensky has done four performances with us here and on tour.”

Fateyev continued, “Besides these world-famous names, we also have other great stars: Andrian Fadeyev, Leonid Sarafanov, Viktoria Tereshkina, Alina Somova, Vladimir Shklyarov, and Yekaterina Osmolkina.” This present generation of Mariinsky dancers certainly has amazing technique, and perhaps in time they will attain the charisma of previous generations of stars. The Mariinsky's Don Quixote should undoubtedly be a big treat.

Kevin Ng writes about dance for a number of publications including The Financial Times, St Petersburg Times and Hong Kong Economic Journal.

The Story of the Mariinsky Theatre
by Natasha Rogai

The Mariinsky is identified above all with excellence in ballet, with traditions handed down in an unbroken line since the Imperial Ballet School (now the Vaganova Academy) was founded in 1738. Many of the most illustrious names in ballet, from Karsavina to Baryshnikov, studied there. The Mariinsky dancers are renowned for their combination of technical brilliance and classical purity. The delightful Don Quixote which they are bringing to Hong Kong showcases their virtuosity with spectacular solos, dazzling character dances and the world's most famous final pas de deux. (Part 2*)

Natasha Rogai is the dance critic of the South China Morning Post and Hong Kong correspondent of The Dancing Times and a member of the Executive Committee of the Hong Kong Dance Alliance.

*For Part 1, please click here.
For Part 3, please click here.