Russian ballet at LeTourneau

Tickets are still available to LeTourneau University's presentation of the St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre's performance of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 4, in the S. E. Belcher Jr. Chapel and Performance Center, 2100 S. Mobberly Ave. in Longview.

The St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre, under the artistic direction of Yuri Petukhov, is one of the most distinguished classical ballet companies in the world. The company will perform a full-length ballet, seen for the first time in Longview, in a one-night performance.

Tickets are $52, $45 and $37 and can be purchased at the university's box office at (903) 233-3080 between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, online at www.BelcherCenter.com , or at the door. A 10 percent discount applies for groups of 10 or more.

Founded in 1966 as the first Theatre of Ballet in Russia, the company has toured more than 50 countries with great success to sold-out audiences. The city of St. Petersburg, which was formerly the capital of Russia, is considered to be the birthplace of Russian Classical Ballet. The St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre is one of the few ballet companies in Russia that has been given the honor and the same highest official status by the Russian Government as "State and Academic Ballet," along with the Kirov and the Bolshoi State and Academic Ballet Theaters.

Artistic director Petukhov previously had performed the role of Romeo and describes the St. Petersburg style as more rigorous and restrained. Nearly all of the company's teachers, coaches and dancers have studied and graduated from the revered Vaganova Ballet Academy which has produced the greatest ballet artists of all time. This Ballet Academy ensured that the carefully selected students were given every opportunity to develop their own potential and bring acclaim to their country.