Formerly known as the Kirov, the legendary Mariinsky Ballet performs 3 different programs in Lincoln Center's 2011 Summer Festival.

Choreographed by the acclaimed Alexei Ratmansky, Anna Karenina is a sweeping two-act ballet that plumbs the psychological underpinnings of Tolstoy's celebrated novel, and tells the story with striking, minimalistic staging, dramatically intense dancing, and Shchedrin's penetrating score. Performances are July 11, 13, and 14 at 8pm.

Another Ratmansky ballet, The Little Humpbacked Horse, is a Russian fairy tale about a beautiful firebird, a demanding tsar, an enchanted tsar-maiden, and a faithful humpbacked horse that helps our simple-minded hero in his adventures. This inventive new production premiered at the Mariinsky in 2009. Performances are July 12 at 8pm, July 13 at 2pm, and July 16 at 2pm.

The final program is a two-part performance beginning with Carmen Suite. This ingenious balletic rendering for strings and percussion of Bizet's opera premiered at the Mariinsky in November 2010. The Mariinsky also performs George Balanchine's intricately beautiful Symphony in C. Performances are July 15 and 16 at 8pm.