Moscow Ballet finishes successful 2010 tour to 70 cities in 60 days
Multiple sell-outs and rave reviews buck the current live entertainment industry trends

Contact:
Sally Michael Keyes • JLIB_HTML_CLOAKING • 413-499-1733 x21

High resolution images: http://www.nutcracker.com/promo

(BERKSHIRES, Mass.) January 4, 2010 – Moscow Ballet finished its 18th annual tour of the Great Russian Nutcracker and Swan Lake to sold-out performances and rave reviews. On a tour of mostly “one-offs” to its usual 70 cities, 15% were sell-outs and the tour grossed a profit. Sell-outs were in cities in the top 20 DMAs; Los Angeles, Cleveland, Detroit and Tampa Bay. Others were in smaller markets, which responded well to the internationally touring ballet production, including Fargo, Farmington and Grand Junction and two, were not performances of the popular holiday ballet the Nutcracker but of Swan Lake, in Surrey/Vancouver and Medicine Hat, in Canada. Five were in cities that were new to the tour. One new city, Durham NC, benefitted from extensive community support (Durham Arts Council, Carolina Dance Academy, Durham’s Children Choir, Duke University) contributing to a sell-out weeks in advance of the performance date. The sell-out performance in Detroit is Moscow Ballet’s second at the Fox Theatre in two consecutive years in a market that is seriously challenged by the recession. Moscow Ballet Director of Marketing Randall Peltier comments, “Since 4th quarter 2008, the recession has not had a noticeable impact on Moscow Ballet except for ticket sales being very last minute. We think this is due in part to touring for nearly 20 consecutive years and to building a holiday tradition for families.”

Moscow Ballet performs in 1500-3000 seat theatres that are traditional community venues and every effort is made to connect with the local community including offering training by members of the company and performance experience to local dancers. Charitable organizations such as the National Multiple Sclerosis Society co-promote performances and plan local fund raisers around them. Competition for the 4th quarter dollar is intense and in many markets there were many other versions of the holiday ballet. In Dallas, for example, 13 different Nutcrackers were advertised in the 4th quarter issue of North Texas Dance. Earlier this year Ticketmaster’s Ron Tuck forecast that the live entertainment industry was trending at 15% below 2009 in the 4th quarter. Moscow Ballet founder and executive director Akiva Talmi has a long history of developing innovative marketing for the live entertainment industry and continuously responds to market demands with new and creative approaches. “Having Cristina and Alexei Terentiev, 2008 IBC Varna Gold Medalist dancers, other superlative soloists on the tour this year and our usual top notch cast of 80 corps members was a definite boon. Even if audiences aren’t ballet aficionados, they recognize excellence in dance when they experience it. In addition, as NY Times chief dance critic Alastair Macaulay recently wrote, the Nutcracker appeal is nationwide and cross generational. We are honored to have such a remarkable public response to our tour this season.” concludes Talmi. The organization is booking 2011,‘12 and ‘13 seasons now and can be reached at or 800-320-1733 or www.akivatalmipresents.com.

Moscow Ballet - History
Moscow Ballet is known for its annual, touring Great Russian Nutcracker and full-length productions of the classic story-ballets; Swan Lake, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and others. Created by award-winning Juilliard alumnus, composer/conductor and theatrical producer, Akiva Talmi, the organization evolved out of Talmi’s all-star Russian "Glasnost Festival Tour" (1986-92). Moscow Ballet made its debut in 1993 with the Great Russian Nutcracker which was directed and choreographed by soloist Stanislav Vlasov of the Russian Bolshoi Theatre. In 1994, Moscow Ballet invited the Moscow State Theatre of Natalia Sats, and the theatre's full orchestra, to expand the company to an 88-artist tour which was billed as the "19th Century Classical Nutcracker." In 2003, Moscow Ballet announced the appointment Vladimir Troshchenko, director of Odessa State Ballet and a pivotal figure in the ballet world, as Ballet Master and in 2010 Andre Litvinov joined as co-Ballet Master. Moscow Ballet continues to feature top graduates of Perm, Vaganova, Moscow State Academic Choreographic and Kiev schools in its productions.