World Cup Benefits: Russian ballet theater sees surge in audiences during tournament

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Europe

02:36

With the World Cup taking place in Russia, people from all over the world are visiting. And that's benefitting not only sports-related businesses and hotels, but also ballet theaters. They're seeing sell-out performances. Football fans from Japan, France and Peru are attending -- even when a ballet COINCIDES with a football match. Take a look.

In the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre was sold out on Friday. It was for a performance of the classical romantic ballet "Swan Lake" by Tchaikovsky, who wrote it in 1871. The ballet has been performed in theatres all around the world, but many would argue it is performed best in Russia, with standards there known for being among the most rigorous in the world.

NATALIA SEGUIN RUSSIAN FAN OF BALLET "Russians, they're first in ballet, a little bit more than they are in football, I think so."

Ballet dancers expected empty seats when a performance coincided with a football match, but that didn't happen.

EKATERINA SAPOGOVA RUSSIAN BALLET DANCER "We had a performance of "Paquita" at the same time as a football match, but there were still many in the audience here, despite our expectation that there would be quite a few empty seats. We thought that it was pointless to have a performance during the World Cup, but many people still showed up, which is great."

Football-mania is sweeping across many Russian cities, especially after Russia won their first two matches against Saudi Arabia and Egypt, raising expectations that Russia may also be a rising star in football.

SLAVA SAMODYROV BALLET CREATIVE DIRECTOR "Well obviously football generates more public interest, more hysteria. It's about the energy and it's quite brutal in some ways. The ballet also is very popular in Russia, not as much as football, but I think it is also about the energy. It's also very physical but it's about hiding the effort, it's about making everything look light and effortless."

Samodyrov believes the World Cup has definitely swelled interest in Russian ballet, judging by the attendance of football tourists looking for a more refined cultural experience while in the country. LQ, CGTN.