Prima ballerina goes down to the basement: Evening of dances of the 18<sup>th</sup> century by Tamara Karsavina in ‘Stray dog’
By his fame “The Evening of the Dances of the 18th Century” T. P. Karsavina is obliged primarily to the edition published by “The Stray Dog” for this evening. In this article, on the basis of source analysis of a wide range of documents, the history of this event is clarified, its cultural context and especially the musical component are highlighted, some mistakes made by the authors of memories and publications about it are corrected. The conclusions assess the “ The Evening of the Dances” as a unique phenomenon and at the same time characteristic of the culture of the” Silver age” with its inherent interest in the artistic heritage, including - to early music. Among the illustrations to the article for the first time are published two sketches of the costume by Karsavina by S. Yu. Sudeikin.