Choreographic School, and Iana Salenko (Staatsballett Berlin), who studied in Donetsk, performed together with the former graduates of the Kiev School. Natalia Osipova, Patrick de Bana and Dino Tamazlakaru also participated in the concert. In fact, it is not important at all what pieces these stars performed at the gala; "Ballet without Borders" did have a huge success. Natalia Osipova and Ivan Putrov performed a fragment from "Romeo and Juliette" in a very inspired and tender way; Cojocaru and Ovcharenko demonstrated an equally inspired and tender fragment from "Lady of the Camellias", Svetlana Zakharova and her partners presented an amazing "Carmen Suite" and "Digital Love", and Leonid Sarafanov scorched as a real winner. All dancers surely made the Bolshoi's audience forget that each ticket was a part of a new window or the heating system. Svetlana Zakharova hopes to be able to support the School in future as well; we wish other colleagues would follow her example. Each ballet school in Russia has at least one outstanding dancer in each generation that can do something good for his/her Alma Mater. At some point Ufa and Kazan competed for the right to be called Rudolph Nureyev's small motherland. The superstar's name alone helped the local schools and theatres a great deal. Natalia Makarova, a successful ballerina-assoluta, helped to publish the fundamental work of the famous Russian ballet historian Vera Kraskova. It will be warmer at the Kiev Choreographic School, good deeds will be remembered for a long time and, most importantly, will bear fruit in future generations. V yacheslav Efimov, the Bolshoi Theatre Deputy General Director, said that the Bolshoi Theatre was equipped with the most modern fire-fighting equipment and thus was the best place to drill all actions that have to be taken in such situations. Photo: RIA NOVOSTI/Ekaterina Chesnokova He also stated on Monday that the fire drill, including evacuation of the personnel and imitation of smoke at the Bolshoi Theatre was a success. He added: "Such massive drills are organized rarely; as for small local drills, we have them approximately twice a year. The Bolshoi Theatre is equipped with the most modern fire-fighting equipment, so it is the best place to drill all actions that have to be taken in such situations". According to Mr. Efimov, the drill included an imitation of smoke. So all those people that were at the theatre, mainly technical staff and some of the ballet artists that were rehearsing, were involved in the evacuation process. The Bolshoi Theatre Deputy General Director said: "Everything went well; this is very important both for the firefighters, because it is a part of their training, and the Bolshoi Theatre, because it allowed us to see how our equipment works. Everyone has met the challenge". Moscow mass media The Bolshoi Theatre needs advertising The Bolshoi Theatre is now searching for a company that will deal with its advertising next year. Two calls for bids to obtain contracts for distribution of advertisement materials in 2015 were announced. The company that obtains the first contract will need to produce and distribute more than eight thousand of posters. The contract cost should be no more than 34 mln rubles (approx. $641,509). The company that gets the second contract will need to make and distribute only 120 posters; however, the budget will be limited to 5 mln rubles (approx. $94, 339). Price quotation will be the main criterion for choosing the winner. At the same time, a cco rd in g to th e o ff ic ia l sta te m ent, q ualit y a nd fu n ctio na l a nd e co lo gic a l characteristics will be taken into account as well. Deadline for applications' submission is December 26th; the results will be announced three days later. The new program of the project "Kings of the Dance" premiered in Moscow Sergei Danilyan, the producer of the project, told RIA NOVOSTI that the Moscow premiere of "Kings of the Dance", one of the most popular ballet projects, took place on December 9th. The audience had a chance to see not only regular participants, including Leonid Sarafanov, Denis Matvienko and Marcelo Gomes (Brazil), but also several new dancers. Friedemann Vogel (Germany) and Herman Cornejo (Argentina) joined the "kings of the dance" team. It was the first time that the dancers were the choreographers as well. /…/ According to the producer, he usually chooses the dancers himself; very often it depends on the participants' schedules and the amount of free time they have. All dancers that take part in the project are great professionals; when Mr. Danilyan chooses new dancers for the show he pays close attention to their communicative and personal skills. He also looks at how well all dancers will be able to get along with each other, how well the new participants can work in a team and stay bright individuals at the same time. /…/ The audience was presented with such projects as "Ardani", as "Reflections"; "Cinque", choreographed by Mauro Bigonzetti (Italy) and starring the Bolshoi Ballet's soloists Ekaterina Shipulina, Ekaterina Krysanova, Anna Tikhomirova, Kristina Kretova and Anastasia Stashkevich. The production "W oman in a Room", choreographed by Carolyn Carlson for Diana V ishneva's project "On the Edge" and nominated for the National Theatre Award "Golden Mask-2014", was performed as well. For articles published 8 December 2014 The Daily Telegraph publishes an article about the Ballet Without Borders concert organised by Svetlana Zakharova at the Bolshoi Theatre in aid of the Kiev State Ballet School. The article says: "Russian and Ukrainian ballet dancers will seek to set aside the conflict embroiling their respective governments" Agence France Presse (AFP) the French newswire reports after the performance of Ballet Without Borders the gala in support of the Kiev Ballet School organised by the Bolshoi's prima Svetlana Zakharova. "It was a full house, it was a huge success," the producer of the concert, Yuri Baranov, told AFP, referring to rapturous applause and stamping of feet." The report says a dozen of the world's top ballet stars put on a dazzling performance. Many editions republish the AFP newswires article about the Ballet Without Borders gala saying it was a huge success. Yahoo News also republished the AFP article in Japanese. Radio Free Europe says Ballet Dancers Dance at the Bolshoi for the Ukraine. Euronews reports based on the AFP newswire writing: "We are creative people, we do not make policy. Beauty, art has nothing to do (with the crisis in Ukraine), "said Yuri Baranov. "It is an initiative of artists and not the government or the direction" of the Bolshoi, said the dancer, born in Kiev and who studied also at the dance school of the Ukrainian capital. AFP also publishes an article about Russian soprano Anna Netrebko saying she has sparked controversy by making a donation to a theatre in pro-Russian Ukrainian region of Donetsk. The same article also mentions the Ballet Without Borders gala at the Bolshoi. Many international editions republish the AFP story. December, 10 2014 Newsletter

, 7 December, 10 2014 "The Most Intriguing Story" On December 19th - 21st the Bolshoi Ballet is going to present its new scandalous production of "The T aming of the Shrew" in Monaco. Jean-Christophe Maillot, who choreographed the ballet, welcomes the company prior to the start of their guest performances. "It is a great joy for us to host the Bolshoi Theatre Ballet Company at the Monaco Dance Forum. The Bolshoi, which for over two centuries has made a vast contribution to the world history of dance, will present "The Taming of the Shrew" in Monaco. "The Taming of the Shrew", which I recently created for the Bolshoi Theatre and which premiered in Moscow on July 4th, is now to be shown on the Grimaldi Forum stage. I am proud of the fact that the Year of Russia in Monaco will open with this very ballet. Our collaboration with the Bolshoi Theatre was a most intriguing story and I hope that the dancers were as pleased to participate in it, as I was. It was a totally new experience for all of us; it was the first time that the Bolshoi Theatre had invited a foreign choreographer to create a full-length plot-based ballet and it was the first time in twenty years that I had produced a ballet for a company other than for Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo. I would like to thank Sergei Filin, who offered to me the chance to choreograph "The T aming of the Shrew" and Vladimir Urin, who helped us realize the project. I am also very grateful to the Principality of Monaco and, in particular, to Her Royal Highness the Princess of Hanover. It is due to her patronage of the art of dance and to her love of beauty that I have had this exciting experience in my career as choreographer".

Irkutsk mass media: Roman Muravitsky, the Bolshoi Theatre soloist, will perform in Irkutsk Roman Muravistky, an Honored Artist of Russia and the Bolshoi Theatre soloist, will perform at the Irkutsk Regional Philharmonic Hall on December 18th and 20th. The singer will present two different programs. On December 18th the audience will hear a concert from the vocal cycle "The Breath of Baikal". In the first part of the concert Roman Muravitsky will perform arias from operas to piano accompaniment; in the second part of the concert the singer will perform together with the Governor's Symphony Orchestra. On December 20th the Bolshoi Theatre soloist will perform Canzones napoletanas and other Italian songs. This will be one of the "Five concerts with a big orchestra". In the first part of the concert the artist will sing to the piano accompaniment; in the second part of the concert he will perform together with the Governor's Symphony Orchestra as well. Tickets are available at the Philharmonic Hall ticket offices. About the singer: Roman Muravitsky was born in the town of Kiselyovsk, Kemerovo province. However, he completed his studies in Irkutsk, and also worked in this city for several years. In 1989, he enrolled at the music faculty of Irkutsk Pedagogical Institute where he began to study singing seriously. From 1989-92, he was a member of the chorus at the Irkutsk Music Theatre. In 1997, he completed his studies at the Moscow Conservatory and in the same year he was a diploma-winner at the 2nd Sergei Rachmaninov Competition. He has been a soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre since 2003. His repertoire includes leading parts in operas by Puccini, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky and other composers. Roman is a participant and a winner of numerous prestigious festivals and competitions. He often presents varied concert programs both in Russia and abroad. Bolshoi Theatre in the InternetIn brief