Biography:
Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Lucian Perkins is an independent photographer and filmmaker based in Washington, D.C. Lucian’s focus on documenting human-interest stories encompasses daily life and social issues...
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A ballerina poses with a militiaman while waiting her turn during the Mariinsky Ballet's exclusive outdoor performance on Palace square for St. Petersburg's 350th anniversary celebration.
Police attempt to prevent a crowd of women from breaking through to touch a famous icon as it is marched through St. Petersburg during the city's 350th anniversary celebrations. The icon was being taken to St. Isaac's church.
Members of the Mariinsky Ballet shed their warm-ups to dance on a cold evening in Palace Square as part of St. Petersburg's 350th annual celebration. They performed selections from Cinderella, Swan Lake, and other ballet classics. The free performance is part of the 350th anniversary celebrations of St. Petersburg.
Over a million people jammed the streets of St. Petersburg after watching a light show over the Neva River as part of the city's 350th anniversary celebrations. The subways had already closed, so the crowd walked home, including many who lived in the suburbs.
At the underground nightclub, Malokoe (which means milk), St. Petersburg youth dance to the music of the Ska band, Eastern Standard Time, from Washington, DC.
A two-hour performance represents years of training at Russia's famed Vaganova Ballet academy in St. Petersburg. Only three girls and six boys from this graduating class were taken by the Kirov/Mariinski Ballet.
The Marrinsky Theatre opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov received their premieres.
The most ambitious piece on the graduation program was "Chopiniana," a "composition in one act" to music by Chopin that was first performed at the Mariinski in 1908.
Every student spends thousands of hours at the barre, repeating the basic classical movements. They take classes in character dancing, duets, acting and -- the one new addition -- "modern."
Students stand in the shadow of the school's famous graduates, including Vaslav Niijinksy, Anna Pavlova, George Balanchine, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov.