For the Millennium Gala at the Firkin Crane of Cork City Ballet's Ballet Spectacular 2000, in which he will dance himself, Alan Foley (pictured right with Chloe du Buyl Pisco) has brought guest artists all the way from Russia. As well as Monica Loughman from Santry, Dublin, who is the only westerner ever to have danced with the State Tchaikovsky Ballet Theatre of Perm and who appeared with them last November in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Derry, he has also lured the company's ballerina, Elena Kulagina, who delighted Irish audiences then with her brilliant Odette/Odile in Swan Lake. Partnering her will be Perm principal dancer Radic Miniochmetov. Featuring in the gala programme will be the Don Quixote pas de deux, a suite from The Nutcracker and The Dying Swan, while the company will be reproducing Schubert Impromptu.