The Russian National Ballet

Purely spectacular! I had second row seats, it was breathtaking! If you are a ballet fan you have to see it!

Enjoyed the grand opening of the Strand Theater and my first ballet! It was just fabulous! Pontiac is really starting to shine!

Outstanding presentation. The quality and acting ability of the dancers took me away to another place. Presentation quality, costumes, set, music were all very good. The professionalism and appeal of the performers was suberb. I would only hope that Michigan will be privy to much more of this extraordinary entertainment. The Russians are excellent at their craft, and felt I was priveleged to to be a spectator. The price paid was a bargain for this level of entertainment. Would not hestiate to recommend this show to anyone! Thanks to GM Foundation for their sponsorship of this event also.

Excellent scenery, wonderful costumes & talented dancers. Well worth the price of admission.

Very enjoyable. Costumes and back drops were beautiful. Would have been perfect if performed with live orchestra. Dancing was excellent, Very dramatic and some intense moments. Would see it again.

I wept throughout. Romeo was mesmerizing. A passionate portrayal. Storyline was clear and easy to follow. Outstanding, don't miss it!

I am ashamed to say this was our first viewing of a ballet performance. After watching this talented and devoted troupe of Russian dancers, I feel I may have been missing out on many grand artistic performances in the past ! I wish to thank the Russian Ballet for making our first experience so entertaining and memorable.

LOVED IT! Bring them back! The price was also affordable which makes a big difference for me.

The dancers were excellent and the seats were very good but I only gave the evening 3* because there was not an orchestra. This is my second ballet to attend since moving to Charleston this year and I miss the live music aspect. Will definitly confirm same before buying more tickets.

Ballet was ok. Dancers were good, well rehearsed. Costumes, sets were nice. Music was canned and sound system sounded Soviet era... not great. No excuse for crappy sound in this day and age. Symphony would've been nice...

The ballet itself was wonderful but the performance was way too short. It was billed as the ballet of Romeo and Juliet but that performance was only 45 minutes. The other ballet was 30-35 minutes and was lovely as well but the shortness of Romeo and Juliet was very disappointing. If I would have paid for the more costly seats I probably would not return for another performance.

No expert so take my views with a grain of salt...but seemed ok but certainly not great. Assumed "Russian Ballet" meant world class. But for 60 dollars was worth it, I guess.

Ballet was well done. Costumes and scenery were OK, not great. The lack of a live orchestra was a big problem for me. The taped music was of good sound quality BUT it does not compare to an actual orchestra led by a great maestro. The Fourth Act was rather tepid and anticlimactic. It should have ended with a bigger bang. Other than that, the dancers were in sync and very athletic and were able to dazzle the audience on occassion.

The ballet was beautiful. The acoustics in the Peabody need some work. I think better acoustics would add so much to the show.

It was an amazing experience for me to have this wonderful experience involved with a great choreography, ballerinas and excellent music. The ending was slightly different, tha happy one, than the typical kind, which is tragic. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it all the way.

This was our first ballet, and it surely did not disappoint. What a beautiful production!

The ballet was an unforgettable treat! Everyone danced so beautifully. It was magical watching them soar across the stage. What a wonderful thing, to be able to tell such a clear story through dance. Bravo!

I thought the costumes were pretty (but the white one had very obvious stains on it- not sure what that was all about). It was not a ballet of perfection. However, it was entertaining and my daughter loved it.

I took my 7 and 6 year old granddaughters to see this performance of Cinderella. They were concerned about watching a show "with no talking or singing". I explained that they knew the story so the dancers would be telling the story without needing to talk. They were convinced as soon as the dancers took the stage and didn't loose interest throughout the show. Great performance!

They are so graceful and well trained. To have 50 people dancing onstage and not hear any footfall is amazing. The best ballet company I've ever seen.

I enjoyed the story line and how well it was put together. Especially loves how much the kids around me enjoyed the show. Didn't enjoy the crazy concession prices.

I thought the show was fair. Cinderella and the prince were great. However, the rest of the cast was not that good. I expected for a Russian ballet more precision, less mistakes, more synchronization. The costumes were drabby. My friend and I sat in the orchestra with our two kids and paid a lot of money for a not so great show.

Took my mother and girlfriend to the National Russian Ballet's "Cinderella" for mom's birthday and they both loved it. Costumes were fancy and the companys rendition of "Cinderella" was true to the original with a few extra bits thrown in to make the piece feel fresher.

Great performance! Both Chopiniana and Romeo and Juliet were amazing!

The Russian National Ballet's production of Romeo and Juliet is the very first ballet I have attended. This was bit of an early Valentine's day gift to my wife who took ballet lessons for several years when she was little. I had to say I really enjoyed the production. The Balboa Theater is an intimate and very lovely venue for this type of an event. Thumbs up recommendation.

The performance by the RNB of R and J combined amazing technique and emotion. A must see!

Even though advertised as Romeo & Juliette, this was an abridged version of the ballet preceded by an extremely uninspired and technically inept performance of Chopiniana - a highly stylyzed classical ballet that should be performed only by dancers with technical mastery - none of whom were present in the Russian National Ballet. The corps-de-ballet was out of sync and couldn't keep their lines straight. The soloist stumbled and sweated through pieces that need technical virtuosity. Boring is a word I don't like using to describe a ballet, but it fits this performance to a T. The abridged version of Romeo & Juliette was better - the existence of a well-known storyline, a colorful costumes, and the somewhat disorganized cast placement allows for less than stellar dancers to perform this piece with sufficient quality. Yet, the piece felt exceedingly rushed and dancers performed it with a feel of wanting to be done with it so that they could go enjoy the San Diego weather - lyricism was lacking and the performance was as romantic as watching a lunar eclipse on a completely overcast night.

I enjoyed this and Cinderella. The costumes were gorgeous, the dance beautiful, and the sets great.

the 1st half was so boring and there was very little range of the moves performed. The choreography needed to be more diverse and the quality of the dancers were mediocre.

This is the ballet to see don't miss this great ballet

The ballet was entertaining and i would recommend this company for someone that just wants to see what a ballet is like. This obviously wasn't the 'A' company since the dancers were only so so. I have seen better.

My husband and I truly enjoyed the performance. The prince and the fairy godmother were really outstanding dancers. My husband really enjoyed the jester, but I was so busy watching everything else that I kind of missed him!

This play story its beautiful. Customs are amazing, beautiful colors. My daughter in law and granddaughter as well as my son enjoyed the play very much. A true Classic.

Choreography was boring except for prince in second act. Costumes were tired and music was prerecorded. We felt as if we were watching the second string team.

Wish there was a matinee for my grandchildren to see. Fabulous!

I attended "Giselle" in Manassas, VA. The performance would have been pretty good - if it had been a ballet school production. For something billed as a professional dance company performance, it seemed lacking. The choreography was significantly simplified from other productions of "Giselle" that I've seen. The ballerinas who played Giselle (at least I think they switched at the intermission) were pretty good, but the rest of the dancers didn't show a whole lot. This is the kind of show you can attend and enjoy if you don't have many opportunities to watch ballet. But if you live in a large city that has a professional company, you may or may not find it to be worthwhile.

Russian National Ballet Theatre rendition of Swan Lake was amazing. The costumes, as always, were beautiful. Superb dancing by Jester. Duets with Prince and Von Rothbart were in total sync. The Russian National Ballet Theatre is one of my favorite companies and they never fail to bring large productions onto the smaller stage, which is a feat in itself. Look forward to the next production they bring to Parker Playhouse.

What a great joy seeing " Swan Lake " performed by exceptional dancers. The costumes and executions were just beautiful to behold, and of course that wonderful wonderful music. What a great way to spend an afternoon

the dancing in some areas were pretty good, and some not great. a bit better than average some opps when the male lead was dancing and no music, missed steps. but for my granddaughter for ballet for the first time. for her it was wonderful.

Hopefully we have more of these shows in South Florida. To bring internationally acclaimed ballet companies like this.

The show was amazing! Truly enjoyed it! Would recommend it to ballet fans.

Very young cast performed nicely. Prima ballerina even took pictures with patrons after the performance

The Russians can do the story ballets like no other. We took our granddaughters to see this performance and we all loved it. It was amazing!

Excellent performance! Talented artists enjoyable Chajkovski music. Theater nice and clean. Security outside and inside, feel safe. Tickets price fair. .

The performance was wonderful! The Russian National Ballet did an excellent job. The only drawback, it seemed, was the size of the stage. This production needs a large stage. During some scenes there was barely enough room for the dancers, let alone the people in the wings!

Very well performed production of Swan Lake. The sound track was a little scratchy, but the ballet dancers were exceptional, very athletic.

The theatre parking was a nightmare as emergency no parking signs were all over the metered spaces. The first 4 rows of orchestra seats were folding bridge chairs. Many of the dancers' costumes were repaired with scraps of cloth that did not match the color or the fabric of the dance costume. Music was pre-recorded. No programs were issued before the performance to give a synopsis of the ballet for newcomers, nor were credits given to the dancers and their roles. The dancers were either too old or too young for their assigned roles onstage, so it was diffucult to stretch the imagination that far...

The main dancers were amazing, truly beautiful ballet. In addition to odette/odile, the jester and rothbart were amazing. The other dancers were frequently out of sync but they all danced well individually. No live orchestra.

We thoroughly enjoyed it. It was my first live ballet.

Very enjoyable experience. The lead dancers were amazing.

The ballet began and I couldn't believe I was watching a professional ballet company. The quality of dancers were that of high school students. I am not making fun, I am being truthful as I raised a ballerina myself. The girls weren't on their box, some seemed stiff and one was just plain uncomfortable to watch. It was just average dancers dancing around on stage until the The Swan showed up. What a performance both as white and black swan. Perfect execution every time. Made the whole evening worth while. What a joy to watch her.

Loved it. Took my granddaughter (14) and her friend (14), they are both in a ballet troupe. They loved it.

The Russian National Ballet is plagued with plodding, lackluster choreography; technically poor dancers; chintzy, ill-fitting costumes; and glitches with the recorded music. I *love* ballet. This is not ballet. This is mime with a lot of clomping around on stage and a tiny bit of out-of-sync gymnastics. Definitely not worth the cost of the ticket.

I've never seen an American ballet group that can rival the technical and artistic skills of the Russian National Ballet. I think that the only way their performances here in the United States could be made even more enthralling would be to have the full Russian designed stage settings and a live orchestra rather than canned music.

A wonderful sampling of Ballet's greatest dances around love. A perfect introduction for those who have never seen a ballet. Well performed!

Fun performance. Great acting and expression. Corps was okay but not in sync. The principle dancers were very talented but not technically perfect. to be sure, I am being very picky. the theater itself is beautful with ample, convenient parking.

Average. Kitri's Variation did not include the Movement to the Left Side of the Stage...the Grand Pas de Deux did not include the Hold (although there was a Hold in the First Act)..the Music (which was unfortunately pre recorded) had the Pauses in the First Act...(done by some, when the Pas de Deux Performance is extraordinary) and it was really Faux in this Case.

All in my party very much loved the program. The dancing and the music was truly entertaining and captivating. The skill and athleticism was amazing. First time in VPAC, won't be the last.

Uninteresting, dancers had balance problems, uninteresting choreography, lack luster, the name "Russian" doesn't mean it's good. Embarrassingly poor.

The Ballet was wonderful! We loved the lavish sets and costumes. The only thing missing was an orchestra.

I was a little disappointed. I expected more for the money.

The ballet didn't look professional. I felt like watching a high school show.