The school was established as the Imperial Theatrical School by decree of the
Empress Anna on 4 May 1738 with the French
Ballet Master Jean-Baptiste Lande as its director. The first classes occupied empty rooms in the
Winter Palace in St. Petersburg and the first students were twelve boys and twelve girls. at the beginning of the 20th century Nearly all the early teachers at the school were from
Western Europe, including
Franz Hilferding and Giovanni Canzianni. The first Russian teacher to join the school was Ivan Valberg. After the spread of ballet in
Europe, the development of the school was influenced by a number of other teachers and methods, including
Christian Johannson, a student of
August Bournonville, and the Italian methods of
Enrico Cecchetti,
Pierina Legnani and
Carlotta Brianza. Other renowned 19th-century dancers and
ballet masters who taught at and were influential in the development in the school include
Charles Didelot,
Jules Perrot,
Arthur Saint-Léon,
Lev Ivanov,
Marius Petipa and
Mikhail Fokine. Since 1836, the school has been situated at
2 Rossi Street in St. Petersburg (known as Leningrad after 1924 until the collapse of the Soviet Union). The Imperial Ballet School was dissolved by the
new Soviet government, but later re-established on the same site as the Leningrad State Choreographic School. The Imperial Russian Ballet was also dissolved and re-established as the Soviet Ballet. The company was later renamed the
Kirov Ballet following the assassination of
Sergey Kirov in 1934. Despite in 1992 being given the current name Mariinsky Ballet, the company is still commonly known as the Kirov Ballet. ==Vaganova==