This short ballet calls upon all the resources of its three dancers, whether alone, paired, or dancing as a trio, to perform with great speed and split-second timing as they execute a wide variety of technical feats.

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Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857), Russia’s first national composer, has been called the Mozart of his country. He is best known for his operas A Life for the Tsar and Ruslan and Ludmila. As a student at the Maryinsky Theatre, Balanchine danced in the latter; in 1969, he directed and choreographed the opera for the State Opera of Hamburg.