Four years ago, the Bolshoi Ballet had Paris audiences at its feet. Balletomanes liked everything: they noted the dancers’ virtuosity, the variety in repertoire, and the exuberant joie de vivre and choreographic inventiveness of the ballet The Bright Stream. In including the latter ballet in the tour program, the Theatre thought they were taking a risk — Western audiences might not understand a work centered round “life on a collective farm”. But their fears proved to be unjustified: The Bright Stream caused a real sensation.