One of the two major ballet companies of Russia, based in St Petersburg. Originally the Imperial Russian Ballet, it was founded in 1738 as an academy to train dancers for the imperial court. In the late 19th-c the company moved to the Mariinsky Theatre, whose name it adopted. From 1867 to 1903 Petipa was principal ballet master, staging elaborate performances for the aristocracy and court. Most noted among these were The Nutcracker (1892) and Swan Lake (1895) to the music of his contemporary, Tchaikovsky. By the late 1890s the company's dancers were comparable with the best in Europe, several of them being later drawn to Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Paris. Outstanding dancers of this period included Anna Pavlova and Nijinsky. The company experienced hardship during the early Soviet years, but under the tutelage of Agrippina Vaganova (1879–1951) its strict tradition of classical elegance and beauty was maintained. In 1935 the company was renamed the Kirov Ballet after the murdered communist S M Kirov. It enjoyed worldwide acclaim during its first visit, in 1961, to the West, marred by the subsequent defection of its leading dancers, Nureyev, Baryshnikov, and Natalia Makarova (1940– ). In 1991 the company was renamed the Kirov–Mariinsky Ballet. Since 1996 its artistic and executive director has been Valery Gergiev (1953– ) who maintains the company's long tradition of stylistic purity and restraint.