On the 18-th March

the "Russian State Ballet" took part in the opening of the new Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin. This is a modern building with all modern conveniences and technical equipment.

The theatre opened with "Swan Lake". The leeding roles were performed by the principal dancers of the Bolshoi theatre Galina Stepanenko and Alexander Volchkov.

Galina has earlier danced with the "Russian State Ballet" but for Alexander that was the first experience. Specially for this occasion A.Volchkov had to learn the version of the RSB which is drastically different from that of the Bolshoi. Still, due to his professionalism and experience Alexander was brilliant in the role of Prince Siegfried.

Georgy Zhemchuzhin who is cooperating with the RSB for quite a long time conducted the National Concert Orchestra.

The venue was sold out long before the opening night. The show visited the President of Ireland Mrs.Mary McAleese with her husband.

The evening started with the national anthem of Ireland. The performance ended triumphantly with standing ovation. Mrs.President and her spouse came backstage to personally greet and thank the dancers.

The premier dancer of the Bolshoi theatre A.Volchkov addressed his special thanks to the management of the RSB and the promoter Mr.Simon Walton for the brilliant organization of the tour. In one of the shows he partnered a leading dancer of the RSB Anna Shcherbakova whose grace and virtuoso technique charmed the Dublin audience.

Other soloists of the company successfully performed in "Swan Lake" - Dmitry Kotermin, Vladimir Mineev, Tatiana Bolotova, Yulia Sidorova, Ksenia Averina, Anton Kosinov, Anton Geyker, Irina Ablitsova, Konstantin Telyatnikov, Kirill Kudelin and others.

Irish newspapers highly appreciated performances of the "Russian State Ballet" starring principal dancers of the Bolshoi Galina Stepanenko and Alexander Volchkov.