Performed at the Mariinsky Theatre,  St. Petersburg, RussiaMusic: Ludwig Minkus

Choreographer: Alexander Gorsky after Marius Petipa
Conductor: Pavel Bubelnikov

Vladimir Ponomarev (Don Quixote)
Anton Lukovkin (Sancho Panza)
Igor Petrov (Lorenzo)
Olesia Novikova (Kitri)
Leonid Sarafanov (Basil)
Vladimir Lepeev (Gamache)
Andrei Merkuriev (Espada)
Yekaterina Kondaurova (Street dancer)
Yana Selina, Yana Serebriakova (Flower-sellers)
Alina Somova (Queen of the Dryads)
Yevgenia Obraztsova (Cupid)
Galina Rakhmanova (Mercedes)
Alexander Efremov (The tavern owner)
Polina Rassadina, Nikolai Zubkovsky (Gypsy dance)
Ti Yon Riu (Oriental dance)
Elena Bazhenova, Karen Ioannisyan (Fandango)
Olga Esina (Variation)

"This Kirov production of 'Don Quixote' always gives me infinite pleasure. I enjoy every time the play performed in front of the Don by the Vaganova Academy students before the windmill scene. The students were also delightful as the twelve cupids framing the corps de ballet in the dream scene." -Ballet Magazine

"Sarafanov was technically invincible from start to finish, and strongly partnered Novikova. He is without doubt one of the most brilliant male virtuosos in the world now. Sarafanov was breathtaking in his impeccable series of double tours en l'air alternating with multiple pirouettes in the grand pas de deux, and his grands jetes en manege." -Ballet Magazine

"Sensationally spirited…classical ballet at its most free and joyous!"  -San Francisco Chronicle

The most well-known and resilient ballet adaptation of Don Quixote is that of Russian choreographer, Marius Petipa, that first premiered in 1869. Alexander Gorsky revitalized the work in a 1902 performance including the famous Anna Pavlova, who danced the role of the street dancer and eventually was responsible for bringing the piece to the West in 1924. The ballet became a staple of the Moscow Bolshoi Ballet and Leningrad Kirov Ballet's repertoire and was regularly modified as it was restaged.
Don Quixote is a ballet known for its colorful characters that portray their personalities and emotions through distinct choreography. Petipa's version of Don Quixote, to the music of Minkus, is the standard ballet version of the tale and features the popular virtuoso pas de deux that has been performed countless times as a concert piece.