La Esmeralda, ballet to the music by Cesare Pugni, inspired by the Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, opened in world premiere in London in 1844. It wasn’t, however, until the Marius Petipa version of 1886 that earned the ballet global fame. Vasili Medvedev and Stanislav Fečo brought the latter version to the SND Ballet to mark the Petipa bicentenary. La Esmeralda, the story of a woman whose beauty is contested by Paris entire, is an opportunity to present yet another ballet gem with brilliant technique, sensuality

and temper.