After Charles-Louis Didelot, the next height of the Imperial Ballet came with the French dance master Marius Ivanovich Petipa.
As described by the Marius Petipa Society, Petipa was invited to join the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg as its Premier Danseur in 1847. He was a hit, and Czar Nicholas I awarded Petipa after his first performance with a ruby and diamond ring. He thrilled audiences, as described by American Ballet Theatre, collaborating with the Austrian ballerina Fanny Elssler in ballets such as Paquita.
Elssler herself was a star, with Dance Research Journal describing her "swooning, voluptuous arms" that emphasized her gems, laces, and satins with a certain materialism. Ballet in Russia provides a glimpse of Elssler's impact on her audiences as she introduced Spanish-style dances to the Russia. She was so impressive that the Imperial Ballet signed her to contract for three seasons. She was more grounded than earlier ballerinas, with one witness declaring, "Madame Elssler offered a sunny, precise, natural and simply elegant type of dancing; ennobling it, she freed the theatre from the former showy jumps."
As for Petipa, he became so entranced by Russia that he became a citizen. This is no wonder, since the Imperial court, according to the Cambridge Companion, treated foreign artists many times better than the Russians who worked under them. Petipa, however, found most lasting fame by enthralling audiences with his productions.
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