The XVIII international ballet art festival by Rudolph Nureev is declared open in Ufa

The XVII international ballet art festival by R. Nureev started in Ufa with the first night of the ballet “Corsair”, staged by Uri Grigorovitch.

Before opening heads of the Bashkir State Theater of opera and ballet, artists and guests of the city have traditionally laid flowers to Rudolph Nureev’s bas-relief on the wall of the theater.

For the first time the festival by Rudolph Nureev is held within the frames of the cultural Olympiad “Sochi-2014”.

The ballet art festival, devoted to the memory of the famous dancer Rudolph Nureev, is held in Ufa since 1993. Here Rudolph Nureev has for the first time entered the stage – in 1995 he danced here in the ballet “Crane’s Song”.

As the news agency “Bashinform” reported earlier, the festival’s program includes four ballets, united by the name of the great dancer. Thus, “Corsair” will be shown on Ufa stage on May 31, Thursday. “Giselle” will be played on June 2 with Sabina Yapparova – a graduate of the Bashkir Choreographic College by R. Nureev – as the top star. Further ballet lovers will watch “The Swan’s Lake” by Peter Tchaikovsky with starring Carl Packett and Elise Burdon from “Grand-Opera” (Paris). The gala-show of Russian ballet stars will take place on June 4 and on June 5 spectators may watch “La Bayadere” by Ludwig Minx. The guests will watch the top dancer of Vienna State Opera Ludmila Konovalova and the prime-dancer of Russian Bolshoi Theater Dmitry Gudanov.

The festival will be closed on June 7 with the grandioso gala-show with participation of world ballet stars and the best dancers of the Bashkir State Theater of opera and ballet.