Polovtsian Dances

The Polovtsian Dances are a series of exotic ballet sequences from Alexander Borodin's opera "Prince Igor," which he worked on from 1869 until his death in 1887, leaving it unfinished. The opera tells the story of the 12th-century Russian Prince Igor Svyatoslavich and his campaign against the nomadic Polovtsian tribes. In the opera, the dances are performed to entertain the captured Prince Igor in the Polovtsian camp, showcasing the culture of his captors through music and choreography.

Borodin was a member of "The Five", a group of Russian composers dedicated to creating distinctly Russian classical music free from Western European influence. The Polovtsian Dances exemplify this nationalist approach, incorporating orientalist musical elements to represent the exotic "Eastern" culture of the Polovtsians. The dances are now frequently performed as a standalone concert suite and remain among the most popular examples of Russian orchestral music from the late Romantic period.