The Bolshoi Ballet is visiting Shanghai again after 23 years. The Russian ballet will present five shows at the Shanghai Grand Theatre from Oct 17 to 21.

The 250-member strong team will present four performances of Spartacus, one of the company's most celebrated repertoire from Oct 17 to 19, and the Ballet Gala on Oct 21. The performances will be accompanied by the Bolshoi Orchestra.

Shanghai is the only stop for the company's 2024 China tour. Last year, the Bolshoi Ballet visited Beijing and performed Don Quixote in July. According to Makhar Vaziev, artistic director of Bolshoi Ballet, "We made the big decision to visit Shanghai because it is one of the most renowned cities in the world, with lots of important cultural accomplishments."

The Bolshoi Ballet has a long history dating back to 1776, and the company presented Spartacus for the first time in Shanghai in 1989. In 2001 the Bolshoi Ballet gave its first show at the Shanghai Grand Theatre, dancing Swan Lake.

Created by Yuri Grigorovich, Spartacus "is a calling card of the Bolshoi Theatre". The choreography for the hero and the antagonist "created in accordance with contemporary classics, has set new standards of heroic male dancing," said Zhang Xiaoding, general manager of Shanghai Grand Theatre.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Russia, and "we hope presenting Spartacus, a most representative repertoire of the Bolshoi Ballet can help to increase our mutual understanding," Vaziev said at the press conference on Oct 16. "Through the past century Chinese ballet has achieved great progress, and developed a distinctive style of its own," he said. "In this process, quite a lot of Russian artists had played their parts and made their impacts, proving the long and enduring friendship between our two nations."