If the foundations of classical ballet were laid in France and Italy, its towers of achievement were built in Russia. Texas Ballet Theater will celebrate Russian ballet in its season-opening performances today through Sunday at Bass Hall. </p><p>The program, "The Russian Masters," presents four classic and modern works that trace the Russian dance heritage from the mid-1800s to today.</p><p>For Ben Stevenson, Texas Ballet Theater’s artistic director, love of this repertoire is deeply personal. His early training in England had strong Russian influences. Stevenson’s ballet <em>Three Preludes From 1969</em>, which will receive its company premiere this weekend, is set to three favorite piano preludes by Russian composer Rachmaninoff. (Texas Christian University professor John Owings will play the pieces live.)</p><p>Performances will also include Michel Fokine’s <em>Polovtsian Dances </em>(from 1909), a colorful and energetic visualization of life on the Russian steppe; George Balanchine’s masterpiece <em>Serenade</em> (1934, to music by Tchaikovsky); and a famous pas de deux from <em>Le Corsaire </em>(1856) to be danced by Leticia Oliveira and Eddie Tovar. Tovar is making his company debut. </p><p>We talked with Stevenson about "The Russian Masters" and the personal ties he has with the ballets.</p><p><strong>Why celebrate the Russian masters in your season-opening show?</strong></p><p>I think because the Russian companies — the Bolshoi and the Kirov ballets — became such big companies and produced such incredible dancers, going all the way back to Anna Pavlova and [Vaslav] Nijinsky and later [Mikhail] Baryshnikov and [Rudolf] Nureyev; and because of Tchaikovsky — the three most-famous ballets, <em>Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake</em> and <em>The Nutcracker, </em>come from Russia. It seems an apt way to begin our season.</p><p><strong>The Russian ballet tradition is your personal tradition, too, right?</strong></p><p>I had a Russian teacher, Vera Volkova, one of the great Russian teachers, in England. Also [Tamara] Karsavina — she was Nijinsky’s partner [in Sergei Diaghilev’s famous Ballets Russes] — she was our mime teacher when I was in school. I was very much influenced by Russian dancers, by the power of the Russian ballet.</p><p><strong>George Balanchine, though best known for his work with New York City Ballet, was Russian and began his career there. Why did you choose to include his <em><strong>Serenade</strong></em> in this program?</strong></p><p>I think it’s the most beautiful ballet, one of Balanchine’s great works out of the many great works that he did. He was teaching, and he worked it with his students. The ballet starts and all the girls have their right arm up. And it was because one girl in the studio said, "The sun’s in my eyes." So he started as if they are shading their eyes from the sun.</p><p><strong>Your ballet <em><strong>Three Preludes </strong></em>is celebrating its 40th birthday this year.</strong></p><p><em>Serenade</em> was Balanchine’s first ballet in America and <em>Three Preludes</em> was my first ballet. I didn’t intend to choreograph a piece that would be performed. I just started directing the Harkness Ballet (in 1969), and there were a couple of dancers in the studio who weren’t being used. The girl was standing at the ballet barre doing a few exercises, so I thought, well that will be interesting. So I started working on them. And then a couple of weeks later we thought, let’s try another one. They weren’t even intended to be together, really. I did three pas de deux, trying them out on these two dancers. </p><p><strong>Will the </strong><em><strong>Polovtsian Dances</strong></em><strong> re-create Fokine’s original choreography from 1909?</strong></p><p>What you’re trying to do is keep the style of that period. &#8194;.&#8194;.&#8194;. It can somehow give you a taste of the past and also the style Fokine wanted in that particular production at that time.