Bolshoi Ballet put its best toes forward on Sunday

Above : The Bolshoi Ballet’s 2017 performance of “The Sleeping Beauty” will screen on Sunday. (Photo/Fathom Events)

If you’ve been watching the Olympics, you know that the Russian athletes are competing under the designation ROC, or Russian Olympic Committee.

Russia as a country was banned from competing in the Games because of a doping scandal that in 2019 caused the World Anti-Doping Agency to ban it from all international competition for four years (later reduced to two years).

Yet those Russian athletes, some 335 of them , that could prove they had no connection to the doping scandal were allowed to compete, just not as representatives of their home country. And they’re doing fairly well.

As of this morning, they ranked fourth with a total of 28 medals, including eight gold, just behind China, Japan and the U.S.

No surprise. Russia has a long history of athleticism, both in sports and the arts. Especially dance.

The Bolshoi Ballet , for instance, has long been one of the world’s most admired dance company. And thanks to Fathom Events , local ballet fans will be able to see the company perform an encore presentation of “The Sleeping Beauty” at 3 p.m. on Sunday at Regal’s Northtown Mall theater.

Danced to the music of Tchaikovsky, and choreographed by Yuri Grigorovich , the performance – which was performed live on Jan. 22, 2017 – features Olga Smirnova (Princess Aurora), Semyon Chudin (Prince Desire), Yulia Stepanova (Lilac Fairy), Alexei Loparevich (the Evil Fairy Carabosse).

It isn’t the Olympics. But it is the artistic equivalent of an art that the Russian do as well as any country in the world.