MODESTO– The Moscow Festival Ballet will dazzle audiences with their production “Sleeping Beauty” at the Gallo Center for the Arts on Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m.

Since its inception, the Moscow Festival Ballet has completed two tours of Europe, with extraordinary receptions in Italy, France, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands; and extensive tours throughout the United States.

Tickets for this performance range from $20 to $50. A 15% discount is available for groups of 15 or more. For tickets or more information, visit www.galloarts.org or call (209) 338-2100.

The Sleeping Beauty was the first of Petipa’s classics to be seen in Western Europe. Under the title The Sleeping Princess, it was presented by Serge Diaghilev (1872-1929) in London in 1921. In 1939, it was remounted in Great Britain and has been considered the foundation of the Classical ballet repertory in that country ever since. It has now been adopted worldwide, and performance of the leading role remains a kind of initiation rite for aspiring ballerinas.

The Moscow Festival Ballet was founded in 1989 when legendary principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet Sergei Radchenko sought to realize his vision of a company that would bring together the highest classical elements of the great Bolshoi and Kirov Ballet companies in an independent new company within the framework of Russian classic ballet.