Magic fairy tales. The prince and Cinderella. Ninel Kurgapkina benefit performance / The Kirov Ballet

Coreografies: Marius Petipa, Constantine Sergeev

Ballarins: Gabriella Komleva ; Sergey Vikulov ; Svetlana Efremova ; Ninel Kurgapkina

The dazzling music and grand choreography of the Kirov Ballet, Russia's earliest and most enduring ballet company. Choreographic riches preserved in these rare dance films include part of Tchaikovsky's 'The Sleeping Beauty' - with the great Gabriella Komleva dancing Aurora, and with the traditional 19th-century choreography of Marius Petipa, who established the grandeur of the early Kirov style when it was known as the Imperial Russian Ballet. Also seen here is 'The Prince and Cinderella, ' a fantasia on Prokofiev's 'Cinderella, ' choreographed by the modern master Constantine Sergeev, who helped sustain Russian dominance in ballet in the twentieth century. And as a climax we're treated to a wealth of dancing from Ninel Kurgapkina, one of the most beloved of modern Russian ballerinas. When Kurgapkina dances the repertoire from 'Don Quixote' to a Strauss waltz to Drigo's 'Harlequinade, ' we are reminded yet again of the greatness of Russian ballet, the Kirov, and the tradition of ballet itself -- contenidor