See Inside Russia's Famed Mariinsky Ballet Theatre | National Geographic

less than 1m read

·Nov 11, 2024

Russians seem to be very good at taking something and bringing it to a whole new level. Take ballet, for example; it was invented in Italy, popularized in France, but the ballet we know now would not be here if it weren't for the Russians.

The heart of ballet here in St. Petersburg is right here at the Mariinsky. The father of ballet in Russia was Marius Petipa, the legendary choreographer who gave us such timeless classics as Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. But the first thing he did in Russia was Paquita, which he staged in this theater in 1847.

Today, we're fortunate to witness something very special: Paquita reimagined for the 21st century by company dancer Youris M. What is ballet for Russian people? [Music] [Music]

It's all made to look effortless, but I can assure you the precision, strength, balance, and endurance of these ballerinas rivals any professional athlete. They rehearse up to 6 hours a day; it can take 40 minutes for them just to put their pointe shoes on.

And all this just to give us a chance to escape from reality into a fairy tale. It's all happening a few moments from now: Paquita reimagined. The orchestra is warming up, and so are the dancers. You can feel the tension in the air, but ultimately, they're not worried. The future of ballet is safe at the Mariinsky. [Music] k [Music]

The Last Thing To Ever Happen In The Universe

Solving exponent equation using exponent properties

View All

You Are Much More Than You Think: A Universe Within You #Shorts

In order to go to the extremes of the universe, to places we can only dream of going, we must first dive deep into something that is all inside of us. Take the big bang, for example. Now, there’s hundreds, thousands of theories as to how we came into exi…

Why You Probably Shouldn't Be Alive

[Music] If you’re watching this right now, you’ve won. You’ve won the game of life; you just don’t know it yet. As of May 2019, there are approximately seven point seven billion humans on our planet. Seven point seven billion people, just like you and me,…

Constructing linear and exponential functions from graph | Algebra II | Khan Academy

The graphs of the linear function ( f(x) = mx + b ) and the exponential function ( g(x) = a \cdot r^x ) where ( r > 0 ) pass through the points ((-1, 9)) and ((1, 1)). So this very clearly is the linear function; it is a line right over here, and this …

Ladder to the Stars | Cosmos: Possible Worlds

I’m standing on the southern tip of Africa and imagining what it was like sometime in the last hundreds of thousands of years. Back then, Africa was home to all the world’s Homo sapiens, all 10,000 of them. If you were an extraterrestrial on a survey miss…

First Native Congresswoman Elected in America | National Geographic

[Music] To win this election, I think it would mean the world to across the country. In the Congress, there have been roughly 12,000 people elected to 1789, and of that number, about 300 Native Americans and yet never a woman. Why you and why now? Why me…

Stonehenge Has a Traffic Problem | Podcast | Overheard at National Geographic

It’s June 2021 at Alice Zoo, this National Geographic photographer. She’s in a field in rural England. It’s this gray, overcast English morning. It was still totally dark when we arrived. There were kind of a few other figures quietly making their way in …

See Inside Russia's Famed Mariinsky Ballet Theatre | National Geographic

More Articles