The Saint-Petersburg State Ballet on ice (former the Leningrad State Ballet on ice) founded in 1967 by the outstanding choreographer Konstantin Boyarsky, is the successor of the remarkable traditions of the St.Petersburg school of the classical ballet.

 

Konstantin Boyarski founded the state ice ballet and established it with a rendition based on Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” combining figure skating with classic Russian ballet for the first time. Even back then it was possible to immediately celebrate an overwhelming success despite Russia having such a critical home audience with regards to Ballet!

 

The time consuming task of adapting classical figures, lifts and jumps to ice had paid off. A new, fantastic genre had been born in the form of ice ballet.

 

The Ballet is headed by its Artistic Director, former soloist of the world-famous Mariinsky Ballet, Merited Artist of Russia Konstantin Rassadin, a school-mate of Rudolf Nuriev. He participated in the performances jointly with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Makarova. Mr. Rassadin was a leading soloist of the Mariinsky Theatre of Opera and Ballet in St. Petersburg (formerly the Kirov Theatre) for 23 years and was a pupil of Leonid Yakabson at the Academy of Russian Ballet.

 

Mr. Rassadin's contemporaries include classmates Rudolf Nuriyev and Natalia Makorova as well as fellow performers Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Dudinskaya. After having choreographed classical ballets on companies throughout Russia and the former Soviet Union, Mr. Rassadin joined the St. Petersburg State Ice Ballet in 1980.

Musical Director and one of the co-founders of the Ballet is Leo Korkhin, prominent Russian conductor who conducts quite a number of orchestras including the renowned Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Saint-Petersburg Philharmonic Society named after D.Shostakovich.

Ice-dancing: The Russians have reigned supreme for some time!

 

Figure skating and ice dancing have a long tradition in Russia, not least because of the favourable climatic condition for these sports. Thus it was no coincidence that the first world championships in figure skating took place in St. Petersburg in 1896. In international and Olympic competitions the pair skating and ice-dancing disciplines have been the preserve of the Russians for a long time. Since 1976 only Russian pairs have won the gold medals in both disciplines at the Winter Olympics, and have often also won the silver medals. This is also true in the case of the world championships, in which Russia figure skaters have always been the leaders of the pack since the start of the 80s. The reigning figure skating world champion Evgeni Plushenko, the pair skating world championship silver medalists Elena Bereshnaya and Anton Sikharulidze and the world championship bronze medalists Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbokh are, of course, favourite once again for the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

 

The dancers of the St. Petersburg state ballet on ice also stem from the “forge” of the most famous Russian figure skating dynasties. After their successful sports careers the dancers of “Swanlake on ice” decided to devote their sporting talents and their performing capabilities to the artistically demanding St Petersburg State Ice ballet that remains unique throughout the world to date.

 

The majority of the current dancers come from the individual and pair figure skaters who have won Russian and international figure skating medals. They then trained intensively and hard with the choreograph Konstantin Rassadin in order to merge elements of athletic figure skating with elements of classical Russian ballet to form a high quality artistic and graceful unit. Hence, the ex-European champion Olga Ivanova and the former Olympian Andrey Stroganov, for instance, now also dance to Tchaikovsky’Swan Lake.

 

All the productions are staged by its principal choreographer Merited Artist of Russia Konstantin Rassadin.  The St Petersburg State Ice Ballet, are the first and remain the only Ice Ballet company to offer real classical ballets in classical ballet costumes and sets, that are performed on an ice rink installed on a stage of a theater.

Over the years their repertoire and their technical abilities were not just extended, the design and structuring of stages and costumes were also perfected. Now a “squad” of 80 figure skating dancers with approx. 800 costumes and symmetrical ice surface enchant theatres and arenas throughout the world with there repertoire which includes; Swan Lake,  Sleeping Beauty,  Romeo and Juliet,  and The Nutcracker.

 

For the last five years these productions have been successfully performed on the best stages of the USA, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, China, Spain, Korea, Taiwan, Greece, Portugal, Ireland and now at The Mediterranean Conference Centre, MALTA!

 

The St. Petersburg State Ice Ballet, having presented over 7000 performances internationally, presents a remarkable blend of many art forms, offering something very innovative and spectacular to audience’s world wide.

 

The St. Petersburg State Ice Ballet appeals to audiences of all ages with its lavish sets and costumes, bringing with it, a touch of magic which is created as your theatre is transformed into a skating paradise.