The research is devoted to short ballet choreographies representating the socalled almehs, professional dancers of Middle East. The authors trace the evolution of almehs’ image at Russian ballet stage in the 20th century on the material of several short ballet choreographies searching for the choreographical means of “easterness” and back influence that ballet almehs could have on Middle Eastern dance traditions in the 20th century.

The article presents a retrospective look at the development of classical dance as an Apollonian art. The methodology of the article is based on Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical views on the artistic work creation. The categories “Apollonian”, “Dionysian” introduced by the philosopher are used as a basis for analyzing the formation and development of classical dance as a separate and independent art. The interrelation between vectors of classical choreography development and both cultural and historical factors, ideologemes of a particular epoch is noted. The author is concerned about the fact that the classical dance lexicon is less often used as semantic material for modern performance. It is suggested that there are possible reasons for the stagnation of classical dance in contemporary realities. The author comes to the conclusion that the generation of new plastic ideas and dance techniques should be carried out in the reliance on the traditional values of culture. The growth of the Western European idea of “chaos” will allow to fill up the classical dance with “Dionysian” forces and create the highest “Apollonian” art.

After 1917, with the arrival of a new audience to the theatre, the issue of creating a new ballet repertoire became especially relevant. In the 1920s, the search for renewal concerned the plastic language, the form of the production, the interaction of music and dance. The GATOB artistic council saw the search for themes for performances that would meet the public's demands as the key tasks. In 1928, the theatre announced a competition for creating a libretto for a Soviet ballet. Having set out in detail the requirements for the works to be accepted – concerning the plot, choreography, and artistic production design – the organizers essentially formulated an order for a relevant modern performance. The ballets that appeared on stage in the 1930s demonstrate that the stated requirements were largely accepted by the authors as a guide to action.

The article is devoted to the identification of the symbolic and semantic nature of the original Cypriot dance “Drepani”, observed by the author during field research in the southern regions of Cyprus (Paphos, Limassol, Zigi, Latchi, Lofu). The author analyzes archival sources, the results of interviewing informants, and for the first time describes the musical and choreographic component of the dance with a sickle, details the plasticity of hands, trick figures and ornamental features of the dance. The peculiarities of the semantics of the artistic language of the dance with the sickle are studied from the point of view of the axiological, normative and aesthetic orientations of the Greek Cypriots. The author comes to conclusions about the universality of the basic functions of the “Drepani” sickle dance: the harmonious synthesis of the mythological tradition of Ancient Greece and the oriental expression of the pyrrhic dance with elements of flanking.

The article is devoted to the study of the role and significance of the French quadrille in the Parisian musical life of the second-third quarter of the 19th century. The historical context that determined the spread of more democratic and accessible forms of public entertainment, as well as the conditions that predetermined the increase in the popularity of the quadrille are highlighted. Quadrille music was played in ballrooms, in gardens and parks of Paris and the suburbs; quadrilles were played on the piano in drawing rooms, and were learned as instructional pieces. The main features of the technique of creating quadrille music are revealed: quadrille sets were composed by arrangers using popular opera melodies. Adaptation techniques are shown that give opera melodies the genre properties of contradance: changes in the original rhythmic canvas, tempo, phrasing, texture. Giving the source material dance properties often led to simplification and loss of individual features of the original, ‒ but with the acquisition of the character of a cheerful frivolous dance. The properties of the “quadrille effect” caused by the use of the technique of “caricaturing” the source material are noted. Reflection of this effect in the mainstream of academic music led to artistic results in works of a comic, scherzo nature.
Taking a significant place in the musical life of Parisians, quadrille music influenced public musical tastes. The positive aspects of its influence on the formation of musical experience are shown: the ability to convey the intonation content of artistic works in a simplified, accessible form for unprepared perception. The reasons are expressed that explain the paradoxically small (in comparison with opera music) interest of quadrille composers in the use of ballet music.

The article presents an experience of self-reflection about the project implemented by its author to renew the costumes for the ballet performance Sleeping Beauty in the choreographic version of Yuri Grigorovich on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia (2024). The selected discourse allows us to combine approaches and methods (biographical, descriptive, iconographic methods, as well as the modeling method) to artistic and scientific practices. The author emphasizes the importance and necessity of descriptive and analytical procedures based on the results of participation in artistic projects to summarize the experience and apply the findings in scientific research, pedagogical and applied fields of activity.

The Grand Inquisitor chapter from F. M. Dostoyevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov has long been an object of comprehension for scholars representing various fields of knowledge and arts; it has also become a precedent text for many outstanding works of world literature including E. Zamyatin’s novel We. In the first Russian anti-utopia, the influence of Dostoyevsky’s last novel can be traced, which has become a stimulus for thinking about dystopian motifs in The Grand Inquisitor chapter and their implementation in works of musical art. Two stage works are chosen as examples. In the opera The Brothers Karamazov by Yu. Dimitrin and A. Smelkov, fragments of the Grand Inquisitor’s monologue are scattered over different scenes, which is why the religious and philosophical plan of action covers the entire work, fastening the dramaturgy and culminating at the point of the “golden section”. In B. Eifman’s ballet Beyond Sin the scene of the Grand Inquisitor and Christ is accompanied with the overture from R. Wagner’s opera Tannhäuser. The article substantiates the possible reasons for such a choice and finds parallels between Dostoyevsky’s novel and Wagner’s article State and Religion.

Television vocal competitions of the early 21st century are viewed as a form of television pop performance and an important channel for the development of the modern performer. The study analyzes the specific features of the television format: the structure of the competition, the role of mentors, visual presentation, and the influence of production. Particular attention is given to the integration of acting and choreography elements into the vocal performance, and to how these contests shape new requirements for performers and new standards for the perception of mainstream pop music. The paper also highlights the artistic and aesthetic risks involved when substantive content is replaced by spectacle.

The research is aimed at studying the ways of visualization of the cherry orchard image and revealing its semantic meaning in the context of the performance as an integral work.
The material is The Cherry Orchard performances of domestic and foreign theater of the 20th and the 21st centuries, which represent different variants and tendencies of visualization of the cherry orchard image.
Four ways of visualization of the cherry orchard image have been identified and considered on the examples of specific productions: cherry blossom trees, which create a background and give atmosphere to the action; metaphorical embodiment of the image, when cherry trees acquire a different form and nature of existence; video projection, cherry trees become imaginary, illusory; absence of cherry trees, the emergence of a different architecture, where the very idea of cherry orchard comes to the fore.

The article is devoted to the key characteristic of Chinese musical theater: the dialectic of the common, belonging to the whole national culture, and the special, the quintessence of regional musical-theater traditions. The author reveals the theme on the example of Tang Jianping’s opera The Dawns are Quiet Here. For the first time the formation of the specificity of the plot, vocal and acting technique, symbolism of scenography, etc. is analyzed. The author traces the interrelations of philosophical teachings of Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, fixed in the national mentality, in the formation and development of Chinese theater. The presence of elements of Taoist practices in the actors' plasticity, theatrical plots, costumes, and musical accompaniment is emphasized. The significance of Confucian virtues in the palette of social roles and archetypes of characters and plots of traditional opera is noted. The Confucian idea of self-sacrifice correlates with the sacrificial love for the Motherland, the highest form of devotion, of the heroines of B. Vasiliev’s story, which is consonant with the concept of the embodiment of true humanity and selfless service, “Zhen”. The author comes to the conclusion about the organic combination in Tang Jianping’s opera The Dawns are Quiet Here of the markers of cultural and historical development of the genre – the idea of self-sacrifice, symbolism, inclusion of traditional Chinese instruments – with the Western European canon, which strengthens the manifestation of the national beginning in all cultural processes.

The article is devoted to the two premieres of the Mariinsky Rimsky-Korsakoff’s Opera The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Virgin Fevronia, which took place one after the other in 1994 and 2001. The directors of the productions Alexey Stepanyuk and Dmitry Chernyakov created two different images of the play. The article examines all the texts that make up the direction of the play – the principles of drama composition, choreographic and plastic text, set design and artistic design, the drama of individual scenes, and analyzes cultural and ideological aspects. Excerpts from critical publications on the performances are given, which reflect the atmosphere of the audience's perception of those years. 
The author comes to the conclusion that the multidirectional directorial methods and artistic solutions of two productions of one opera work were necessary for the processes of self-development of the Theatre.

The article is devoted to theatrical and critical responses to Yuri Butusov’s play Hamlet, staged in Lensoviet Theatre. The research methodology is based on the principles of the Leningrad (Gvozdev) school of theatre studies.
The study reveals aspects of this work, considered by the authors of the articles. It is shown that the reviews interpret and evaluate both the play as a whole and many of its individual components and properties; first of all, the image of the main character performed by actress Laura Pitskhelauri; the last episode of the play, which differs significantly from the finale of the play; as well as the quality and role of the translation of Shakespeare’s text by A. Chernov, which is used in the performance.
It has been established that the content of the play as specifically theatrical, that is, in the form of a dramatic contradiction, was formulated by only one reviewer. At the same time, the composition of the stage whole, the method of formation of its artistic content and, accordingly, the type of theatre according to the laws of which the performance was created, remained undefined.

The article is dedicated to Olga Nikolaevna Blagovidova (1905-1975) who combined traditionally established forms and methods of working with the voice with new trends of the era in her teaching practice and produced a whole galaxy of remarkable vocal performers, many of whom gained worldwide fame. Studying Olga Blagovidova’s experience through the prism of tradition and innovation allows us to inscribe her name into the unified history of the development of the Russian/Soviet vocal school.

I. Belsky belonged to a special breed of people: everything he touched, all areas of activity that occupied him, immediately acquired a special interest and value. For him the search for the key was always decisive - how to solve the main, general problem? I. Belsky’s work, along with that of Y. Grigorovich, marked a milestone in the history of Russian ballet in the 20th century. Y. Grigorovich’s The Stone Flower (1957) and I. Belsky’s The Coast of Hope (1959) are recognised as turning points. Grigorovich’s essentially revolutionary novelty did not escape the traces of the past. Belsky exacerbated the problem and with his performance declared the new aesthetic programme to have finally won. It paradoxically corresponded with F. Lopukhov’s ideas about dancesymphony. Once again dance prevailed, the ties of the plot loosened, and the action gravitated towards programme.