On the 19th of December the State Kremlin Palace hosted a long-awaited new year event – Christmas Ballet Gala. This year the amazing show was lead by an honoured artist of Russian Federation, a star of international recognition, Ivan Vasilyev.

Event organisators invited Ivan Vasilyev not only as a performer, but also as a choreographer. This is the first time Moscow audience has witnessed his ballet interpretation of Charles Dickens’ fairy tale story about greedy Scrooge. An absolute masterpiece of this show was the “Dance with Death” sequence, which lead the main hero to life through spiritual transformation. On the whole, the ballet miniature “A Christmas story” from I. Vasilyev calls for mercy, teaches us to be kinder and more attentive to each other. It reminds us about simple and important values, about love for our nearest and dearest.

The second part of Christmas ballet gala was traditionally compiled from different fragments of most famous ballets. The stage filled with accomplished artists: Denis Rodkin, Maria Vinogradova, Igor Zvirko, Irina Perren and others. The adagio from the Nutcracker was performed by Bolshoi leading dancers Anastasia Stashkevich and Vyacheslav Lopatin. “The Soldier” dance (choreography by Ivan Vasilyev accompanied by sounds of Marseillaise in Mireille Mathieu’s rendition) was beautifully performed by Denis Savin, one of most expressive contemporary dancers. The final chord was the Grande Pas from Don Quixote by amazing Kristina Kretova and Ivan Vasilyev.

This celebration was made even more memorable by our little stars from International Ballet Centre that provided support for the show. Our youngest students went on stage for the first time and distributed the flowers among the artists.