The Bolshoi Ballet's Class Concert and Giselle

Two ballets in 2 acts from the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow.

A quintessential romantic ballet, Giselle recounts the moving story of a peasant girl whose everlasting love transcends death. The new choreographic version is by Yuri Grigorovich with music by Adolphe Adam.

Created in the early 1960s, Class Concert is a gloriously romanticized version of the ballet class that dancers do every day. From exercises at the barre to displays of beauty and strength at center stage, Asaf Messerer's entertaining circus of a ballet zips through the most difficult combinations with glee and brings panache to the most basic. This production is staged by Mikhail Messerer, the choreographer's nephew. The music, a compilation including Glazunov and Shostakovich, is a cornucopia of melody, played superbly by the Bolshoi Orchestra. Celebrated prima ballerina, Svetlana Zakharova stars.