Moscow Stanislavsky Ballet will return to Los Angeles May 23 through May 31, performing productions of "Swan Lake" (May 23 - 28) and "Giselle" (May 30 -31) with a company of 165, including a full symphony orchestra, for ten performances at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland. The company, lead by artistic director Dmitry Bryantsev, is one of Moscow's two leading ballet companies-the other is The Bolshoi Ballet.

The engagement will begin with seven performances of the Moscow Stanislavsky Ballet's celebrated Vladimir Burmeister staging of "Swan Lake." The Burmeister production is based on the score that Tchaikovsky wrote for the ballet's premiere in 1877 by Julius Reisinger for the Bolshoi Ballet.

"Giselle" was first performed by the Stanislavsky Ballet in 1991. Artistic director Bryantsev introduced "Giselle" in the repertory because he thought it an important milestone in the development of the company. To stage "Giselle," Bryantsev invited Tatiana Legat, the renowned balletmaster from Mariinsky Ballet. The romantic sets and beautifully stylized costumes were designed by the Chief Set Designer of the Stanislavsky Theater, Mr. Vladimir Arefiev.

The Moscow Stanislavsky Ballet was originally started in 1929, when the former Bolshoi Ballet star Victorina Krieger formed the Moscow Art Ballet. Krieger was influenced by the legendary Russian actor, producer and director Konstantin Stanislavksy and the writer/director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. In 1941, the Moscow Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre was inaugurated. It became the home for Krieger's dance company.

Tickets are priced from $25 to $82 and are available at the Kodak Theatre box office or at Ticketmaster.

Pilobolus Dance Theatre, performed two shows at the Music Center May 2 and 4, with a work commissioned for the 2002 Olympics. The repertoire included the Southern California Debut of "The Brass Ring," choreographed by Michael Tracy and commissioned for the 2002 Winter Olympics. The Ahmanson double-header (Pilobolus on Friday and Sunday, Diavolo twice on Saturday) inaugurated a new era in the Music Center's sponsorship of dance.

A new vision of contemporary dance, Pilobolus left the audience both amazed and awe-struck at their curious blend of human sculpture and mind-bending movement. The non-traditional choreography placed heavy emphasis on interpretative dance, as Pilobolus combined body sculpture, acrobatics and theater together to form an avant-garde reportoire. The set was stark and the costumes fit like a second skin, giving the occasional apppearance of nudity on stage.

Pilobolus sprang from a Dartmouth College dance class in 1971 with a clear desire to make something new. The group was immediately acclaimed for its startling mix of humor and invention and Pilobolus soon became a completely self-sufficient organization, its members choreographing, dancing, managing and publicizing their own programs.

Today Pilobolus is a major American dance company of international influence, who has not forsaken its original impetus. The company remains a deeply committed collaborative effort with four artistic directors and six dancers contributing to one of the most popular and varied repertoires in the field. Almost three decades of making dances now stand as a testament to the company's position as an artistic collective of remarkable fruitfulness and longevity.

Exhibition Dates: April 13 through July 27, 2003

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has organized The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256-1353, the first exhibition to explore the important artistic and cultural achievements that occurred in the Iranian world in the aftermath of the Mongol invasions. The exhibition focuses on the Ilkhanid dynasty founded by Genghis Khan's grandson Hülegü. This dynasty ruled in an area encompassing Iran, Iraq, western Afghanistan, southern Russia, and eastern Turkey, and maintained a relationship with China's Yuan dynasty, established by another grandson, Khubilai Khan. It was a period of brilliant cultural flowering, as the Mongol masters sought to govern their disparate empire and in the process sponsored the creation of a bold new visual language. By uniting eastern and western Asia for more than a century, the Mongols produced a unique occasion for cultural exchange that forever changed the face of art in the Iranian world, making it a focal point of innovation and synthesis for the next 300 years. As the lively manuscript illustrations, opulent decorative arts, and splendid architectural elements assembled for this exhibition reveal, this too was Genghis Khan's legacy.

Museum Hours: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday noon-8 p.m.; Friday noon-9 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; closed Wednesday. Call (323) 857-6000, or visit our Web site at www.lacma.org. General LACMA Admission: Adults $7; students 18+ with ID and senior citizens 62+ $5; children/younger students $1; children 5 and under are admitted free. The second Tuesday of every month is free to all.