It was a cold windy evening at the Purana Qila grounds, where ‘The year of Russia in India’ was celebrated in style with a spectacular Russian ballet and a dazzling sound and light show. Three hundred Russian artists came down for this joint performance of art and culture by the two countries, organised by the ICCR. The evening began with a foot-tapping performance by the Pyatnitsky State Academic Russian Folk Choir. Also known as the Peasants’ Chorus, the members sang and danced to Russian countryside music. The audience seemed to wait anxiously for the next performer, one that Russia is best known for — the ballerina. The lithe Anna Antonicheva of the Bolshoi Theatre Ballet, dressed in a shimmering white ensemble, flapped her arms gracefully in her performance Swan. New life was infused into the 500-year-old Mughal power centre as Karina Serbina’s Russian rendition of Mozart’s celebrated opera Queen of the Night reached a crescendo. Dilma Bilan, who joined her later, enthralled the audience with Never Let You Go, the song that won him the International Eurovision Contest in 2006. And amid this din, one could see the silhouettes of Moscow’s Red Square against the dimly lit ramparts of the grand Mughal monument.
