It is a case of east meets west as the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of The Drunks at the Courtyard theatre kicks off its four year celebration of theatre from the eastern bloc, giving us a sneak peek of life beyond the iron curtain.

The Russian ballet missed a few generations of evolution in European choreography and lacked fresh dance ideas. At the same time the masterly performance level of the Russian ballet school was kept up well. After 1991 domestic ballet resorted to assimilating the experience of the Western ballet in the field of dance modern, jazz, and free dance.

XXVIII Moscow international film festival is taking place in the Russian capital between June 23 and July 2.