Russian Ballet. From Origins to Triumph

The book by Russian playwright, theater historian and librettist Sergey Khudekov (1837-1928) is one of the first monographic studies of the phenomenon of Russian ballet: from "exotic dances" during the time of Ivan the Terrible and Boris Godunov to the era of Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, Isadora Duncan, Mikhail Fokin, Tamara Karsavina...
The foundation of the book was a collection by Khudekov himself, who gathered over 15 thousand documents and exhibits on the history of theater. "The History of Russian Ballet" was supposed to become part of a multi-volume "History of Dance", however, the fate of the book was tragic: its print run perished in a fire at the printing house in 1918, and only a few copies survived by a miracle.
Sergey Khudekov's work is not only a unique eyewitness perspective on the "golden age" of Russian ballet, but also a panorama of the entire history of Russian ballet art - from the copying of Western models to the awareness of a truly national school of ballet craftsmanship, which became the benchmark for the whole world.
The edition is richly illustrated with rare engravings and photographs.