Despite its residence, Panfilov's Ballet was never a provincial troupe. This choreographer was one of the first in the powerful ballet world to begin staging performances in the modern style. He took off the ballerina's nylon tutus and pink tights, threw out their pointe shoes and forced them to bend their bodies in unthinkable positions and use modern techniques. For Russian contemporary dance Panfilov is not just a pioneer choreographer; he is a magician. He is a showman who shocked his colleagues by transforming high art into a stunning spectacle and raising plain pop culture to the level of virtuosity. A fanatic of his craft, he accustomed Russian audiences to the new art practically by himself. He also took his dancers from an amateur stage to the first state contemporary dance theater.

His fate is characteristic of contemporary dance pioneers. Until he was 20, Panfilov did not know what ballet was. He tended his garden in his native village in the Arkhangelsk Region, would get into trouble at school, served in the army, and was expelled from military college. Then he entered the Perm Institute of Culture, where he discovered dance.

During the two decades in which he thrilled Russia, Europe, and America - Panfilov staged around 100 performances. Among them were the minimalist Wait for me and The Flight based on Bulgakov's play, as well as Paradise for Madmen and The Nutcracker.

The theater - which for many years has existed without its founder (Panfilov was killed in 2002) - and its leading dancer Sergei Rainik have been trying to preserve Panfilov's best works and expand the repertoire by collaborating with young choreographers.

The most famous Russian troupe was created in 1990. Today it's linked to the name of choreographer Tatyana Baganova, who danced with it from the start and today is its artistic director. And although the dancers successfully collaborate with other choreographers, their style was imprinted by Baganova's performances - well conceived, metaphorical, and very strict choreographically.

Her ability to erect performances like buildings helped her win festivals and be invited by the Bolshoi Theatre. Baganova is the only Russian contemporary dance choreographer to have been commissioned by the Bolshoi to stage a production - it was The Rite of Spring, staged on the 100th anniversary of the first production of Stravinsky's ballet.

The sturdy style of her choreography conceal the dance's lyrical soul, which is particularly appreciated abroad, where the Chelyabinsk dancers perform more than in Russia.

Pona is not only a choreographer but also a teacher who has reared more than one generation of dancers, and in terms of virtuosity they have no equals in Russia. Many of them have long left Chelyabink and now work in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Yekaterinburg.

For many, working with Pona is a stimulus for their own creativity: Konstantin Keikhel, Ekaterina Kislova, Larisa Alexandrovna, and Maria Greif have become famous choreographers themselves. They work with leading companies and have been nominated for the Golden Mask, which Chelyabinsk productions have already won twice.

Ballet Moscow, which today is one of the most interesting and unique theatrical groups in Moscow, was established during the years of the Perestroika. Back then few people could explain what contemporary dance was - many wanted to dance but "not like at the Bolshoi," including the Bolshoi dancers themselves. Some of them even changed their status for a captivating professional adventure.

The Chamber Moscow Ballet, as it was called at the time, was one of the first troupes in the 1990s to invite teachers for more than short master classes; it began collaborating with European choreographers. The visit of Dutchman Paul Selwyn Norton, who had danced with William Forsythe's Frankfurt Ballet, and his production Break In, which combined movement with the static Japanese art of origami, were like a revolution: Back then cooperating with foreign choreographers was unheard of even for the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theaters.

Since then Ballet Moscow has experienced many transformations and has even changed its name. Its repertoire includes productions choreographed by Frenchmen Régis Obadia and Rachid Ouramdane, Belgian Karine Ponties and Russian master Alexander Pepelyayev - and there's nothing sensational about them appearing together on one poster today, expect for the fact that in Moscow it's possible to see productions by leading contemporary choreographers one after the other.

The troupe from Kostroma is the only company out of all the heavyweights of Russian contemporary dance to be formed after the dance fever that raged during the Perestroika. It was established in 2002, when two young drama actors, Yevgeny Kulagin and Ivan Yestegneyev, decided to change their lives.

Kulagin and Yestegneev's productions combine the choreographer's tenacity with the brutality of the executing style, freely finding their niche in the space where genres meet. The troupe from Kostroma has become a resident at the Gogol Center and participates in performances by the Theater of Nations in Moscow. The dancers also perform at a new art space in Kostroma called STANTSIA.