Absolute last event of EURO 2015 : Russian Folk Dance Show at the Nikolaevskiy Palace....one of dozens of sumptuous palaces of the wealthy and the noble (sometimes the same people, sometimes not) which sprouted up around the city in the latter part of the 19th century....and miraculously survived Nazi artillery fire in WWII. The palaces were financed by the rapid industrialization of the country, the territorial expansion of the Czars.....and, of course, the... relentless oppression of the serfs and industrial workers...which would have made even Dickens blanch. The performance itself was uniformly excellent, a bit of festive regional dances here, a story-telling duet there. Audience members invited to participate in a couple numbers. All dancers train in a school dedicated to folk dancing...as prestigious as the better-known ballet schools. Costumes putting anything in Las Vegas to shame, performers young and enthusiastic...all accompanied by live music including the classical male quartet. And I had long thought that the "barbershop quartet" was vocal ensemble unique to the United States.
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