"Chopiniana" is one of the most famous
ballets by Michel Fokine who, according to his contemporaries, heralded
the start of a new era in Russian ballet one hundred years ago. Fokine
himself said of this ballet that “I have tried not to surprise people with
the newness, but rather to restore conditional ballet dancing to
the point of its greatest advances. I don’t know if this is how our
antecedents danced. And no-one else knows that. But in my dreams this is
precisely how they did dance.
"Paquita" The Paquita Grand pas classique
was revised in 1896 by Marius Petipa for a gala performance held at Peterhof in
honor of Empress Catherine II. For the occasion the Imperial Ballet's newly
appointed Prima ballerina assoluta Mathilde Kschessinskaya invited
several ballerinas to participate in the performance by interpolating their
favorite classical variations (or solos) from different works. Thus, the
tradition of including an entire suite of solos for various ballerinas began, a
tradition which is still in place today. Anna Pavlova included the Grand Pas
classique in her company's repertory.