The ballet company was founded in 1933 as contemporary ballet troupe, having own original repertoire and singular style, by outstanding choreographer of 20th century, Fedor Lopukhov.

Over the last twenty years Nikolay Boyarchikov leads the company. Under his guidance the troupe turned into efficient author's theatre that unexpectedly sharp expressed a paradox of modern consciousness and the ideas of spiritual and social life. Every Boyarchikov's performance is uncommon for ballet intellectual revelation, having new artistic structure and metaphorical expression that anticipate the public's awareness.

So the repertoire was enriched by original productions, formed on literary and mythological base, which give a many meanings interpretation of individual conflicts and epoch problems. "The Tsar Boris" (1978) has become one of the most significant performances of the seventies.
The rock-ballet "Orphee and Eurydice" by A.Zhurbin, where jazz, variety dance and acrobatics were used, appeared on the academic stage. The ballets "Heracles" by N.Martynov (1971), "The Robbers" by M.Minkov (1982), "Macbeth" by Sh.Kallosh (1984) treat the problems of evil in nature, society and man.
The ballet "The Marriage" (1987) continued a comedian performance tradition and brought back Lopukhov's "Harlequinade".

Boyarchikov's ballet productions made evident the talent of the singular dancers such as G. Sudakov, Yu. Petukhov, V. Adjamov, M. Kurshakova, R.Kusmicheva, A.Linnik, I.Soloviov, G.Abaidulov.
The choreodrama came back with "The Servant for Two Masters" and Boyarchikov's version of "Fadetta". The classical repertoire was replenished by "Esmeralda" and over the last period by "The Sleeping Beauty" as well "Don Quixote", unexpected for this stage. These ballets achieved here individual intonation and furthered the ballet dancers' technical and stylistic improvement. The company, as first in Russia, staged Balanchin's choreographic masterpieces "Serenade", "Theme and Variations", "Pas-de-deux" and "Apollo Musagetes"; showed J. Lemon's ballet "There is a Time for Everything", made in american modern dance style; produced the very Russian B. Nizhinska's ballet "Les Noces" (1995) which came back home from its emigration, making a world resonance.

As ever, the company's main tendency is a quest for new ideas, fresh choreographic imagery, original incarnation of dramatism on ballet stage.

The company toured all over the world, showing the productions in Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Greece, France, England, Norway, Australia, Latin America, Vietnam, Corea etc. The last decade is distinguished by yearly tours in Japan what is justly considered to be a long-term cooperation.