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Backstage at the Kirov is recommended for those who've always been interested in ballet, but can't sit through a three-hour stage presentation. This documentary concentrates on Leningrad's Kirov Ballet, tracing the progress of its dancers from early training to final performance. No effort is made to hide the fact that dancing is a tough, exacting art, the proverbial "95 per cent perspiration". The lyrical beauty of the final Swan Lake sequence proves that the effort was worth it. Among the participants in Backstage at the Kirov are Galina Mezentxeva and Konstantin Zalinsky.