Contact: Sammy McDavid

STARKVILLE, Miss.--The Russian National Ballet Theatre's April 22 presentation of "Sleeping Beauty" will conclude Mississippi State's 2014-15 Lyceum Series schedule.

The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Bettersworth Auditorium of the university's historic Lee Hall.

Tickets are $25 and may be purchased in advance via www.lyceum.msstate.edu. MSU students are admitted free with identification cards.

The internationally recognized performing company was founded in Moscow during the late 1980s as the Soviet government was easing its long grip on all areas of communist society.

During this transitional period known as the Perestroika, many of the country's great ballet dancers and choreographers began exercising new-found freedoms. A number of them established new companies dedicated to the timeless traditions of classical Russian ballet but invigorated with the latest creative developments from around the world.

Today, the Russian National Ballet Theatre includes more than 50 dancers of singular instruction and vast experience, many who have been with the company since its inception. For more, visit www.bolshoimoscow.com/theatre/rnbt/info.

The work of influential French choreographer Marius Petipa (1818-1910), "Sleeping Beauty" often is considered among the finest achievements of the classical ballet period. Replete with a beautiful princess and dream prince, good and evil fairies, magical stage effects and courtly splendor, the well-known fairy tale easily lent itself to the full-evening dance format that was Petipa's pride.

For more information on the April 22 performance or the continuing Lyceum Series, contact Ameila Treptow, assistant director for student activities, at 662-325-2930 or atreptow@saffairs.msstate.edu.

MSU, the Magnolia State's flagship research institution, is online at www.msstate.edu.