Description:

The Buffon Dance from the very first performance of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" ballet at the Mariinsky theatre.

Animated by Shiryayev sometime from 1906-1909, who also performed this dance on the stage, the choreography had been thought lost until the discovery of this film. Since then, it has been revived. First in 2013 by Medvedev and Burlaka, then by Balanchine, whose version of the "Russian Dance" was heavily based on this version; he danced the piece himself and retained most of Shiryaev's steps.

This is a clip from the 2003 documentary about Shiryayev.