In July 2005th Main Stage was closed for reconstruction. I posted the set of the pictures of its interiors several months ago. Now the reconstruction is almost finished, the Main Stage is to open up to the new season with a premiere of Glinka’s opera «Ruslan and Lyudmila» (director — Dmitry Chernyakov). And we can look at the new set of pictures with gorgeous inner spaces of Bolshoi.

Russian blogger Rustam Agadamov... Read more »

Russia's Bolshoi Theatre has been nominated for three awards by British dance critics following a series of exceptional performances by its ballet troupe in London last year.

The National Dance Awards are presented annually in the United Kingdom by The Critics' Circle, and are awarded to recognize excellence in professional dance. They are widely regarded as the most prestigious award presented for dance in the UK.

British Critics' Circle has nominated the Bolshoi Ballet for the 2010 Best Foreign Dance Company award. Bolshoi's prima ballerina Natalia Osipova has been nominated for the Best Female Dancer award, while the theater's leading dancer Ivan Vasiliev has been nominated for... Read more »

Up to the fall of 2011th the Main Stage of Bolshoi Theatre will be closed for the reconstruction. Now the most part of the shows are performed on the New Stage and some performances are held on the stage of the Great Kremlin Palace. The New Stage is located quite cleverly so it's rather difficult to find it at the first time. Here's the map and some pictures of its interiors.

New Stage was opened in 2002th, on November, 29. A new scene is built close to the historic building of the Main Stage of Bolshoi, at the left side of it. Together with auxiliary buildings (a restored building of XVIII century, where to rehearsal halls, artists' recreation r... Read more »

The winners of the international ballet competition Benois de la Danse were announced on Tuesday in the Bolshoi Theatre. The best dancer was the french ballerine Hélène Boucher, she was awarded for the role of Eurydice in "Orpheus" by Stravinsky.

There're two best dancers this year. Thiago Bordin (Hamburg Ballet) won this prize for the party of Armand Duval in La Dame aux Camelias by Frederic Chopin. And David Holberg got it for the role of Count Albrecht in "Giselle" by Adolphe Adam.

In the category "Best Choreograph" there're no winners this year, it was decided not to award anybody. Also in that evening the awarding of prizes to the winners of last year passed, because last year's ceremony was not held.

The reconstruction of Bolshoi theatre's facade is almost completed. Now the building is cleared of the scaffolding. The theatre's square is also prepared to the Victory Day. Traditionally the Teatralnaya Square is the meeting place for veterans of WWII.

But there's a lot of work yet. The builders work with interiors of the Main Stage and construct the additional accommodations. The Main Stage of the theatre is scheduled to open on Oct. 2, 2011 with premiere of Glinka’s opera «Ruslan and Lyudmila» (director — Dmitry Chernyakov).

You can see the pictures of the ... Read more »

The names of nominees for the Benois de la Dance prize (award for the highest achievements in choreography) have been declared. The prizes will be awarded at the Bolshoi Theatre on May 18. And on May 19 at the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre will be a gala concert "Stars of the Benois de la Danсe". Among the nominees are twenty persons: six choreographers, seven ballerinas, seven ballet dancers.

Photo by Damir Yusupov / Bolshoi Theater

Six choreographers: David Dawson (English National Ballet), Terence Kohler (Royal Ballet of Flanders), Christopher Wheeldon (Ballet of Karlsruhe) and others. Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky is nominated by Russia.

Among ballerinas are the soloist of the ... Read more »

Bolshoi theatre has prepared the unprecedented surprise for European public. Now ballet fanciers will be able to see ballets staged by Bolshoi on European cinema screens (mainly in France) in real time. The project will start from March 31 in the frames of Year of France in Russia and Russia in France.

Flames of Paris ballet, Jeanne - Anastasia Meskova, Jerome - Andrey Merkuriev, Bolshoi theatre

So 150 cinemas will host the real-time shows of the Flames of Paris ballet on the last day of March. Among the first cities to watch ballet translations are Paris, Avignon, Le Havre, Lyon, Nancy, Nice, Toulon, and Toulouse, as well as Switzerland's Bern a... Read more »

As you probably know the Main Stage of Bolshoi theatre is under reconstruction now. But we can have a look at the exclusive pictures of its future interiors.

Throughout its history the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater of Russia (aka Bolshoi Theater) survived two major reconstruction. It had been opened on January 1825th with presentation of «Triumph of the Muses». On March 1853th the theater burned down. Only the stone exterior walls and the colonnade of the main entrance remained after the fire. The theater was restored in th... Read more »