Throwing down a bridge between contemporary ballet and the era of the Imperial Russian Ballet, the International Dance Open Festival comes to town this week for the 10th time, showcasing some of the world’s finest talent.

As a preview event, the festival is organizing a free film screening in Dom Kino on March 31 at 3 p.m. of “Ballet Russes,” the internationally praised 2005 film by Dan Geller and Dana Goldfine. The film is based on a series of twenty interviews with living members of the legendary troupe, interwoven with rare archive footage of their performances. Spanning more than fifty years, the film encompasses the history of the dance company, beginning with the Diaghilev era in the 1910-1920s through the 1960s, when fierce rivalry led to artistic stagnation that ruined the historic troupe.

The festival’s opening gala on April 2 at the Alexandriinsky Theater brings together exclusively Russian dancers such as the Mariinsky Theater’s Viktoria Teryoshkina, the Mikhailovsky Theater’s Irina Perren and Leonid Sarafanov, the Bolshoi Theater’s Natalya Osipova and Ivan Vasilyev, the Stanislavsky Opera and Ballet Theater’s Kristina Kretova and Semyon Chudin, and Kazan Opera and Ballet Theater’s Nurlan Kenetov, alongside other performers.

“We are not seeking to turn that concert into a showcase of the achievements of every single Russian ballet company,” said Yekaterina Galanova, the festival’s founder. “It is meant as a cascade of stunning performances by amazing artists from across the country. During the ten years of the festival’s history, we have discovered a wealth of dance talent to which we want to introduce audiences. We promise an array of fantastic new names!”

The next day, the same venue will host a gala performance dedicated to the magnificent emigre dancer Natalya Makarova, whom the Russian-French choreographer and dancer Serge Lifar once presented with an abstract painting that he had signed, “To the Stradivarius of Dance,” thus coining a long-lasting title. The performance will feature Alina Cojocaru and Sergei Polunin of the Royal Ballet Covent Garden, Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle of the New York City Ballet, Yurgita Dronina of the Royal Swedish ballet, Diana Vishneva of the Mariinsky Theater, Marcelo Homes of the American Ballet Theater and other dancers.

This year, Dance Open made the list of the top most attractive arts events in Europe to visit this spring, according to Britain’s The Independent. The newspaper ranked the event alongside Germany’s Liszt festival marking the composer’s bicentenary, the Budapest Spring Festival that traditionally fuses jazz and classics, the Barcelona Guitar Festival, and Britain’s own Birmingham Flatpack Festival that focuses on psychedelic animation and experimental documentary films.  

The Dance Open festival concludes on April 4 at the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall with a gala performance by international stars showcasing Cojocaru, Polunin, Osipova, Vasilyev and Homes, as well as Lucia Lacarra and Marlon Dino (Bavarian State Ballet), Isabelle Ciaravola (Paris Opera Ballet), and Venus Villa and Jonah Acosta (English National Ballet).

Spicing up the closing gala will be soloists from the internationally famed all-male U.S. ensemble Rock the Ballet, who are noted both for their original performance style — which blends choreography and acrobatics set to pop songs — and for seemingly getting a kick out of shocking the audience.

As one recent critical review put it, “An unashamed pop-ballet, Rock the Ballet throws out the stuffiness of tradition and replaces it with beats and provocative moves.”

Later in the evening, the Russian Ethnography Museum will play host to the Second International Dance Open Award Ceremony. The Grand Prix of the prestigious prize was awarded for the first time last year, when it was won by Lucia Lacarra. The jury, headed by Natalya Makarova, also awarded a number of prizes for expressiveness, technical virtuosity and the best duo.

This year, Makarova will be back in her native city to preside over the jury, which features the heads of some of the world’s most acclaimed ballet companies and ballet historians. Sitting on the jury this year will be Kevin McKenzie, the artistic director of the American Ballet Theater, Vladimir Malakhov, the artistic director of the Berlin Ballet, Ted Brandsen, the artistic director of the Dutch National Ballet, Altynai Asylmuratova, the artistic director of the Vaganova Ballet Academy, and Ivan Liska, the artistic director of the Bavarian State Ballet.

0