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 5 Financial Goals To Achieve In Your 20s

Ancient Mesopotamia 101 | National Geographic

View All

Marcus Aurelius' Advice For Better Days

At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself, “I have to go to work as a human being. What do I have to complain of if I’m going to do what I was born for? The things I was brought into this world to do.” Or is this what I was created…

Enthalpy and phase changes | Thermodynamics | AP Chemistry | Khan Academy

[Instructor] Let’s say that we have some solid water or ice, and we want to melt the ice and turn the solid water into liquid water. This phase change of solid water to liquid water is called melting, and it takes positive 6.01 kilojoules per one mole to …

Sal Khan's thoughts on mastery learning

This idea of mastery learning was always kind of this gold standard. This was actually as a part of a fellowship I had while I was at MIT called the Eleranta fellowship to make a learning software for students with ADHD. It immediately struck a chord with…

15 Signs You’re Pre-Rich

Some of you aren’t broke, right? You’re just on the way to becoming rich. Let’s call you pre-rich. Your time hasn’t come yet, but you might share some of these early signs that one day, probably soon, your reality will match your potential. Here are 15 si…

Setting Up Camp: A Day in the Life of a Scientist | Continent 7: Antarctica

People’s ears, noses, feeling that windchill—all the work. So this is our field training expedition. We’re just going out overnight tonight, and once we get out there, we’re gonna test the Y equipment. So, set up the tent and see how everything works. We…

Interpreting picture graphs (notebook) | Math | 3rd grade | Khan Academy

Maria has 70 pages in her notebook. She made a graph of the kinds of writing on all the pages she has used so far. How many pages are left in Maria’s notebook? So down here, we have a picture graph or pictograph showing all the pages Maria’s used so far …

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

More Articles