Mariinsky II (New Theatre)

Dance Scenes

Premiere: 9 April 2025, Mariinsky II

Age category 12+

Credits

Music by Igor Stravinsky

Musical Director: Valery Gergiev

Choreographer: Vyacheslav Samodurov

Set Designer: Alexey Kondratyev

Costume Designer: Irena Belousova

Lighting Designer: Konstantin Binkin

Round Dances

Premiere: 26 February 2026, Mariinsky II

Running time: 30 minutes
Age category 12+

Credits

Music by Rodion Shchedrin

Musical Director: Valery Gergiev

Choreographer: Vyacheslav Samodurov

Set Designer: Vyacheslav Samodurov

Lighting Designer: Anatoly Lyapin

Costume Designer: Vyacheslav Samodurov

Rodion Shchedrin did not compose a ballet entitled Round Dances. This evocative dance title belongs instead to his Concerto for Orchestra No. 4, written to a Japanese commission for a work “in the Russian spirit”. In this music Vyacheslav Samodurov perceived movement itself. “The music unfolds along a winding path – constantly revealing itself as something other than what it first seems. Its romanticism is deceptive; its apparent lyricism, rhythmic clarity and harmonic balance all conceal another side,” the choreographer notes. Responding to the concerto’s energy, the refinement of its texture and its intricate rhythmic organisation, Samodurov created round dances for the Mariinsky Theatre’s corps de ballet and five soloists.