Russian ballet legend returns to Herod Atticus Theater

In the early 1970s, the Bolshoi Ballet came to Athens, with a star dancing the title role of Spartacus at a packed Herod Atticus Theater. Mikhail Lavrovsky was at the apogee of his fame at the time and this particular role, which earned him the Lenin Prize, was to become a career milestone. It was a performance he has never forgotten and the dancer's dream to return to the Roman-era theater is about to come true in September, just a month shy of his 76th birthday.

The tribute to Lavrovsky by the Bolshoi that premiered in Moscow on May 4 is traveling outside Russia for the first time for three shows in Greece and features the company's most famous young soloists, Ivan Vasiliev, as well as other stars such as Nina Kaptsova, Igor Tsvirko and Maria Vinogradova, along with the corps de ballet. Indeed, practically every important Russian dancer today was at one point or another a...