Русский балет
Russian Ballet
C1 · Advanced · non-fiction · 10 scenes · Premium story
An advanced documentary on the most widely exported thing Russian culture has made, told as the history of an institution rather than a list of great names. It begins in 1738 with a decree that founds no company and orders no performance, only a school; and it ends in a morning class where every movement still carries a French name. On the way: the Frenchman who composed the Russian classics, the flop of Swan Lake, the impresario who never danced, the riot of 1913, the revolution's decision not to close the imperial ballet, the teacher whose great work is a dull textbook, and three dancers who walked out of the country carrying the school with them.
Characters
- Marius Petipa (Мариус Петипа) — Ballet master, 1818–1910
- Sergei Diaghilev (Сергей Дягилев) — Impresario, 1872–1929
- Agrippina Vaganova (Агриппина Ваганова) — Teacher, 1879–1951
- Galina Ulanova (Галина Уланова) — Ballerina, 1910–1998
Vocabulary from this story
- балет — ballet
- танец — dance
- танцовщик — male dancer
- балерина — ballerina
- хореограф — choreographer
- постановка — production, staging
- сцена — stage, scene
- театр — theatre
- школа — school
- училище — training academy
- ученик — pupil
- урок — lesson, class