Bolshoi Ballet in the context of "Don Quixote (ballet)"

The Bolshoi Theatre (Russian: Большо́й теа́тр, romanized: Bol'shoy teatr, IPA: [bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈat(ə)r], lit. 'Grand Theater') is a historic opera house in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové. Before the October Revolution it was a part of the Imperial Theatres of the Russian Empire along with Maly Theatre (Small Theatre) in Moscow and a few theatres in Saint Petersburg (Hermitage Theatre, Bolshoi (Kamenny) Theatre, later Mariinsky Theatre and others).

The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are among the oldest and best known ballet and opera companies in the world. It is by far the world's biggest ballet company, with more than 200 dancers. The theatre is the parent company of The Bolshoi Ballet Academy, a leading school of ballet. It has a branch at the Bolshoi Theater School in Joinville, Brazil.

The Paris Opera Ballet (French: Ballet de l'Opéra national de Paris) is a French ballet company that is an integral part of the Paris Opera. It is the oldest national ballet company, and many European and international ballet companies can trace their origins to it. It is still regarded as one of the most prominent ballet companies in the world, together with the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow and the Royal Ballet in London.

Since December 2022, the company has been under the direction of José Martínez, the director of dance. The ballet company consists of 154 dancers, among them 17 Danseurs Étoiles. The principal dancers give 180 dance performances each year, primarily at the Palais Garnier.

The Moscow State Academy of Choreography (Russian: Московская государственная академия хореографии), commonly known as The Bolshoi Ballet Academy, is one of the oldest and most prestigious schools of ballet in the world, located in Moscow, Russia. It is the affiliate school of the Bolshoi Ballet. Founded on December 23, 1773 as the second ballet school in Russia, it entered into a contract with the Italian teacher-choreographer Filippo Becari, who must was “the most capable of dancing” children to learn “to dance with all possible precision and to show themselves publicly in all pantomime ballets”.

The Bolshoi Ballet receives the majority of its dancers from the academy, as do most other Moscow ballet companies. Numerous choreographers, instructors and graduates of the academy have become renowned, including Olga Lepeshinskaya, Raisa Struchkova, Natalia Bessmertnova, Ekaterina Maximova, Maya Plisetskaya, Nikolai Fadeyechev, Vladimir Vasiliev, Mikhail Lavrovsky, Nikolay Tsiskaridze, to be bestowed a People's Artist of the USSR, "prima ballerina assoluta" and "premier dancer", the ultimate title for a ballet performer of the Soviet Union.

The Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet is a school of classical ballet in St Petersburg, Russia. Established in 1738 during the reign of Empress Anna, the academy was known as the Imperial Ballet School until the Soviet era, when, after a brief hiatus, the school was re-established as the Leningrad State Choreographic Institute. In 1957, the school was renamed in honor of the pedagogue Agrippina Vaganova, who cultivated the method of classical ballet training that has been taught there since the late 1920s. Many of the world's leading ballet schools have adopted elements of the Vaganova method into their own training.

The Vaganova Academy is the associate school of the Mariinsky Ballet, one of the world's leading ballet companies. Students of the school have found employment with ballet and contemporary companies worldwide, such as the Bolshoi Ballet, The Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and the Mikhailovsky Ballet.