During the seventeenth century, before the reign of Emperor Peter the Great, dance in Russia only existed among the people of the countryside and the lower class who lived outside the city, so Peter the Great decided to develop the art in his country by inviting artists from other countries to help modernize Russia and in the XNUMXth century, the history of the Ballet also originated in the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg by a group of academies that were dedicated to this art.
In 1744 for the first time in the history of Russian ballet, Jean Baptiste Landen was one of the first ballet choreographers to come to Russia with his dancers to present a show for Empress Anne. Jean Baptiste's dancers put on a grand show, which in 1738 the empress decided to found a ballet school. This school was known as the "Imperial Ballet School", and later it became known as the "Vaganova Academy", which was directed by Agripina Vaganova. Catalana la Grande also founded a ballet school, the students came from poor families from an orphanage in Moscow.
Frenchman Charles Diderot came to Russia to direct the first performances of the Russian ballet. His first performances were put on at the Bolshoi Theater, which was later known as the Mariinsky Theater. Choreographer Marie Taglioni came to Russia with a group of European dancers but stayed in Russia and became one of the leading ballet teachers.