Moscow Festival Ballet presents ‘Don Quixote’

February 15, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Moscow Festival Ballet will present “Don Quixote” at 7:30 p.m. March 2 at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on the University of Florida campus.

The company was founded in 1989 when legendary principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet Sergei Radchenko sought to realize his vision of a company that would bring together the highest classical elements of the great Bolshoi and Kirov Ballet companies in an independent new company within the framework of Russian classical ballet.

Under Radchenko’s direction, leading dancers from across the Russias have forged an exciting new company staging new productions of timeless classics such as “Don Quixote.”

The full-length ballet, performed in three acts, follows the story set down in Miguel de Cervantes’s novel. Don Quixote de la Mancha, a noble landowner, spends so much of his time reading about the days of chivalry and knighthood that he begins to believe that he is, in fact, a knight errant. With his loyal servant Sancho Panza, whom he has appointed his “squire,” Don Quixote sets out to find the beautiful Dulcinea, a maiden he has glimpsed in a vision.

Radchenko researched the original choreography and stage productions of Marius Petipa’s classic ballet in executing the Moscow Festival Ballet’s production of “Don Quixote.”

Since its inception, the Moscow Festival Ballet has completed two tours of Europe, with extraordinary receptions in Italy, France, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands. During the ballet’s first two tours to the United Kingdom, the company performed for capacity audiences at London’s famed Coliseum. The company also has performed with great success in Turkey at the Istanbul Festival and in Greece at the Athens Festival. The group also recently completed a two-month tour of Japan, Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Tickets are available by calling the Phillips Center Box Office at 352-392-2787 or by calling Ticketmaster at 904-353-3309. Orders may be faxed to 352-846-1562. Tickets are also available at the Phillips Center Box Office, University Box Office at the University of Florida Reitz Student Union and all Ticketmaster outlets; and on the Web at www.ticketmaster.com.

The Phillips Center Box Office is open from noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and two hours before performances.