Why do Russians love ballet?

Ballet dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko confessed on Wednesday to hiring the men who threw acid in the face of Bolshoi Ballet director Sergei Filin in January. Dmitrichenko was reportedly miffed that Filin repeatedly passed over his girlfriend, ballet prodigy Anzhelina Vorontsova, for leading roles. read more

While ballet lost popularity in Western Europe and the United States during the second half of the 20 th century, it held on in Russia, in part because exporting world-class talent gave Russians enormous satisfaction. read more

Russians do not love ballet. They are proud of ballet. Classical ballet is one of the distinctively Russian parts of world art where Russia has and always had leadership and that's why. read more

Yet, world-famous Russian ballet dancers such as Anna Pavlova, Galina Ulanova and Rudolph Nureyev had average physical characteristics. That is why experienced teachers of choreography say that physique is not the most important thing."If the child has the will and a dream, that is already a lot," Subbotovskaya says. read more