Based on rich documentary and critical material, the book presents the reader with a wide panorama of the development of Russian ballet in the second half of the 19th century. The author talks in detail about the theatrical process of that time: how the repertoire was updated, who the leading dancers, musicians and artists were. At the center of the story is the story of the legendary Marius Petipa. French by birth, he came to Russia at a young age with the goal of enlisting as a dancer in the directorate of the imperial theaters and became an outstanding choreographer, a key figure of his cultural era, whose legacy still occupies an important place in the repertoire of many theaters around the world. Natalia Dmitrievna Melnik ( literary pseudonym - Natalia Chernyshova-Melnik) - journalist, editor and literary translator, candidate of philological sciences, associate professor at the St. Petersburg State Institute of Film and Television. Member of the Union of Journalists of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. Author of books about the great princes of the House of Romanov and about the famous entrepreneur S. P. Diaghilev.