Nadezhda Batoeva and Kimin Kim in Scheherazade

Nadezhda Batoeva and Kimin Kim (Mariinsky Ballet) in Scheherazade, music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, choreography by Mikhail Fokine. Benois de la Danse 2016 Laureates Gala, shot on 17.5.2016 in Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow.

Check out all galleries from 2016 Benois de la Danse Laureates Gala 

Check out all galleries from 2016 Benois de la Danse Laureates Gala

Nadezhda Batoeva (Rus. Надежда Батоева) is a second soloist with Mariinsky Theatre ballet company. She was born in Neryungri, East-Siberia of Russia. She graduated from the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in 2009 (class of Professor Lyudmila Safronova) and joined the Mariinsky Ballet the same year.

Kimin Kim is a Principal with the Mariinsky Ballet. He was born in Seoul. Graduated from the Korea National University of Arts (class of Vladimir Kim and Margarita Kulik). For half a year he was a trainee with the Mariinsky Ballet. At the Mariinsky Theatre he made his debut as Ali in the ballet Le Corsaire (coached by Viktor Baranov). Since July 2012 he has been a First Soloist with the Mariinsky Ballet.

Sheherazade (Scheherazade; Russian: Шехерaзада, Shekherazada in transliteration), Op. 35, is a symphonic poem composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1888. Based on One Thousand and One Nights, sometimes known as The Arabian Nights, this orchestral work combines two features typical of Russian music and of Rimsky-Korsakov in particular: dazzling, colorful orchestration and an interest in the East, which figured greatly in the history of Imperial Russia, as well as orientalism in general. It is considered Rimsky-Korsakov’s most popular work. A ballet adaptation of Sheherazade premiered on June 4, 1910, at the Opéra Garnier in Paris by the Ballets Russes. The choreography for the ballet was by Michel Fokine and the libretto was from Fokine and Léon Bakst, who also designed sets and costumes.

Photos by Jack Devant Ballet Photography with kind permission of the Benois de la Danse and Bolshoi Theatre, special thanks to Nina Kudriavtseva-Loory and Regina Nikiforova.