In the United States, the mega-rich buy sports franchises or elections. In Russia, they buy ballet companies. At least, that’s what happened in 2007, when Russian fruit tycoon Vladimir Kekhman moved to make the Mikhailovsky Ballet the best that money could buy. With a checkered history dating back to the 1800s, the company was regarded as second-tier behind Moscow’s Bolshoi and St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Ballet. Kekhman’s money and drive, especially the money, lured high-profile dancers from both the flamboyant Bolshoi and the refined Kirov. The company arrives on its first American tour with Flames of Paris, in which the French Revolution is a metaphor for the Russian Revolution, as the company asserts its growing international stature.

Nov. 28-29, 7:30 p.m.; Nov. 29-30, 2 p.m., 2014
(Expired: 11/30/14)

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