Pasqualino
The World Premiere of Les Ballets Persans included four choreographies of Nima Kiann and two full-length ballets ("Babek" and Seven Beauties - 2002) of prominent Azerbaijani choreographers Rafiga Akhundova and Maksud Mamedov. The Azeri masterworks were created during the Soviet Era and had been fallen into oblivion since their excerption from the repertoire of the National Ballet of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater) in the 1970s and 1980s. Babek (1986, music: Akshin Alizadeh) is a Spartacus like heroic ballet based on the story of Babak Khorramdin. The ballet was staged by Les Ballets Persans for the first time in the West. Seven Beauties (1978, music: Kara Karaev), a one-act ballet based on Haft Peykar, the romantic epic of Nezami Ganjavi, a Persian 12th century poet. Les Ballet Persans had its World Premiere on October 7, 2002, at Cirkus Theatre in the Royal Djurgården, a late 19th century theater venue in the historical part of Stockholm. The premiere production of the company involved 106 individuals from 22 nationalities.