Tutus and toe shoes: Ballet sweeps back into the Garde Arts Center on Saturday. The Russian National Ballet Theatre will perform "Giselle," the classic piece about a poor girl who falls for a fellow peasant - who turns out to be a count merely pretending to be a commoner.

You may remember them from ... The same troupe presented "Cinderella" at the Garde in 2013 and "Swan Lake" in 2011.

History lesson: Think back to those Perestroika days in the 1980s as the Soviet Union opened itself up. That's when the Russian National Ballet Theatre was created. It was an era when a lot of artists - including dancers and choreographers - were exploring the creative freedom that Perestroika was allowing them. In that spirit, many established new companies. Alums of various legendary Russian choreographic schools joined together to found the Soviet National Ballet, whose name later morphed into the Russian National Ballet Theatre. Elena Radchenko - once a renowned Bolshoi dancer - became the organization's artistic director.

- KRISTINA DORSEY

Russian National Ballet Theatre's "Giselle," 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London; $33-$53; (860) 444-7373.