It's that time of the week! Here's Ulyana Lopatkina in Petipa's Paquita, wearing a subtle white and silver tutu. Stunning! - Selene

Today's #ThrowbackThursday is the ballet Le Corsaire! Svetlana Zakharova and Dmitry Semionov, Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet Le Corsaire follows the story of a young Greek girl named Medora. She is sold by a slave-dealer to a man named Pasha. The pirate Conrad declares his love for her and snatches her away. Conrad's jealous first mate sends Medora back to the slave-dealer, who sells her back to Pasha. Conrad and his men attempt to rescue Medora, but Conrad is recognised and sentence

It's that time of the week - here's Agnes Lestestu, formerly prima ballerina of the Paris Opera Ballet. - Selene

Today's Spotlight Saturday focuses on retired English prima ballerina Darcey Bussell. Curtain call after a performance of 'Themes and Variations' Bussell was born Marnie Mercedes Darcey Pemberton Crittle on 27 April 1969, to John and Andrea Crittle. Her parents split when she was three, and she was adopted by her stepfather, Philip Bussell. She began her dance training at the Charlotte School, a specialist school teaching dance and musical theatre in London. Royal Ballet Scho

The Royal New Zealand Ballet's presentation of Carmen with L'Arlesienne premieres tonight in Christchurch's beautifully restored Isaac Theatre Royal, so for this #ThrowbackThursday I'll be talking about the ballets' choreographer: Roland Petit. Petit was born on 13 January 1924, in Villemomble near Paris, France. He trained at the Paris Opera Ballet School, under such tutors as Gustave Ricaux, a former dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet, and Serge Lifar, formerly star of Diag

It's Tutu Tuesday, and here's something a bit older than usual: Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Makarova, in rehearsal for Don Quixote, 1975. Natalia's tutu is much shorter than modern pancake tutus, following the popular 'Balanchine' style of the era. On another note, here's some amazing footage Alison found this morning. It's Mikhail Baryshnikov's Russian graduation performance from 1967. He and his partner - possibly Olga Vtorushina - perform a very different version of th

It's Spotlight Saturday, and today's star is French prima ballerina Sylvie Guillem. Photoshoot, 1985 She was born in Paris on 25 February 1965. She studied gymnastics as a child, as her mother was a gymnastics teacher. In 1977, 11-year-old Guillem began studyinsg at the Paris Opera Ballet School. The then director, Claude Bessy, quickly noticed her potential, and at the age of 16 she joined the corps de ballet of the Paris Opera. In Nureyev's 'Raymonda' In 1983, she won the g

Today's #ThrowbackThursday focuses on Don Quixote! Clytie Campbell, Royal New Zealand Ballet The ballet is based on the novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel Cervantes. The original production was choreographed by Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus, in four acts. This was later expanded to a five act ballet. Marianela Nunez and Carlos Acosta as Kitri and Basilio, Royal Ballet The original libretto has the ballet start in Don Quixote's study. He is reading a book o

It's that time of the week again! Here's 16-year-old Diana Georgia Ionescu, one of the eight winners of the 2017 Prix de Lausanne. Her beautiful tutu was created for her Paquita variation. Footage of the Prix de Lausanne can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/user/PrixdeLausanne Enjoy! - Selene

Today's Spotlight Saturday focuses on American prima ballerina Mia Slavenska. She was born Mia Corak in Brod na Savi, in what was then Austria-Hungary (now Croatia), on 20 February 1916. She started dancing at the age of four, training with Josephine Weiss and Margarita Froman in Zagreb. She made her debut in Baranovic's ballet Licitarsko scre in 1924 with what is now the Croatian National Theatre. She became the prima ballerina of the Zagreb Opera at the age of 17. At the 19