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The Bolshoi start their London season at the Coliseum in July. We asked Marina Panfilovich, Bolshoi PR supremo, to tell us what changes there have been over the last few years and which dancers we should perhaps be watching for.

Of course the Bolshoi talking about the Bolshoi is going to give you a certain perspective. For a view from another perspective on the Bolshoi, and the Kirov as well, there is an interesting piece on the Financial Times (FT) site by Andrew Clark. You have to register to use the FT site and the piece will only be available for a week or two, so if you are reading this later, don't be too surprised if it has gone.

The Bolshoi Ballet Company has come a long way from its life in the 'Soviet' conditions of the past to its current life in the democratic theatre within a democratic society.

One of the big changes has been a move towards proper contracts for artists. The contract system, introduced in recent years, has given both the administration and the artists a clear understanding of what the legal relationship between artist and theatre should be, in which everybody is aware of their rights and responsibilities. No artist has left the Bolshoi Ballet since the introduction of the contract system because they can all participate in other engagements within the terms of their contracts.

Thus for example, whereas the Bolshoi has always been Nina Ananiashvili's home theatre and company, Nina is also a prima ballerina of American Ballet Theatre (ABT). In addition the dancers have more opportunity to guest with other companies because they know in advance when they are not required by the Bolshoi. This is good for audiences everywhere and means that the Bolshoi is also enriched by its dancers having a wider repertoire and experience.

The Bolshoi Ballet itself is also becoming much more open to western choreography while of course preserving the traditional classical repertoire for which it has always been so famous. The first full-length evening of Balanchine was premiered this season with great success amongst both critics and audience. We have plans to expand this repertoire with more Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Paul Taylor and Ben Stevenson, and Pierre Lacotte will be reviving a full length classical ballet for us next season.

At the same time we are hoping to persuade talented Russian choreographers to work in the Bolshoi. After young choreographer Alexei Ratmansky's triumph with "Dreams about Japan" based on traditional Kabuki Theatre stories with traditional Japanese taiko drum music last season, which successfully toured in Japan and Paris and will be shown at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival this August, next season Boris Eifman from St Petersburg will stage a full length ballet "Paul the First" to music by Beethoven and Mahler depicting the tragic fate of the famous Russian Tsar. There are also plans to create a new modern ballet using computer technology for lighting and set design.

The Bolshoi Ballet of course remains one of the greatest companies in the world, with vast dancer resources at its disposal. Besides world-class stars such as Nina Ananiashvili, Inna Petrova, Nadezhda Gracheva, Galina Stepanenko, Sergey Filin, Yuri Klevtsov as well as some younger dancers to look out for such as Anna Antonicheva, Maria Alexandrova, Svetlana Lunkina, Anastassia Volochkova, Maria Allash, Andrei Uvarov, Nikolai Tsiskaridze, Dmitry Belogolovtsev, Dmitry Gudanov, Konstantin Ivanov, the Bolshoi Ballet is proud of its splendid corps de ballet. Members of the corps are very carefully selected for inclusion into the company to match a unified Moscow-school style, with a beautifully elongated line perfectly attuned to the new aesthetics of ballet today.

We very much hope you enjoy the Bolshoi Ballet (and Opera) on their visit to London. While much is changing for the better we respect above all else the classical repertoire and look forward to presenting many of the classics to you as only we can - the Bolshoi, or big, way.