Perm Ballet Comes to Spartanburg

SPARTANBURG, SC – December 8, 2009 – The world-famous Perm Ballet from Perm, Russia is coming to Savannah, Spartanburg, Charleston, and Charlotte to perform the classical ballet Sleeping Beauty.

The Perm Ballet cast members are all graduates of the Perm Vaganova School and are considered to be the third best ballet company in the world. Their connection to the St. Petersburg Vaganova School occurred when the school was evacuated to Perm from Leningrad during the siege during World War II. When the siege was lifted half of the school remained in Perm and the instructors have fiercely maintained the traditions of the famed St. Petersburg institution.

The Artistic Director of the theater is Mr. George Isaakyan and the Artistic Director of the Ballet is Natalia Akhmarova. Both of these outstanding directors have won numerous international awards and are considered to be at the very top of their professions. The Prima Ballerina is Elena Kulagina. Her titles include Honored Artist and Peoples’ Artist of Russia. Other featured dancers include Yaroslave Araptanova, Natalia Moiseeva-Poleshchuk, and Robert Gabdullin. There will be a total of 65 dancers on stage to present this timeless ballet.

The unique feature of the Perm Ballet is that the cast has been together for some years as the company strives to maintain continuity of the cast. The result is the most beautifully choreographed ballet performance in the entire ballet world. Leading dancers from the cast include numerous winners of prestigious ballet competitions, and the ballet has performed all over the world in the past 30 years. The artistic director is an Honored Artist of Russia.

The tour that brings the Perm Ballet to the four southern cities is part of a tour that spans California across the country and up into New York and Canada. When the ballet learned that Dr. Mike Donnelly of the Hermitage Ballet of St. Petersburg was free this February they asked him to select four cities and to serve as the impresario for the ballet in those venues. Dr. Donnelly will continue to insist that the ballet provide free master classes for ballet students on point in the cities the ballet will appear.

Discounted tickets for students and military, both active duty and retired, are available.

Web site: http://www.russianseasonsballet.com/