The Red Poppy

The Red Poppy
Scene from The Red Poppy, a drawing on a Soviet postage stamp
Native title	Красный мак
Choreographer	(Acts 1 & 3): Lev Laschiline (Act 2): Vasily Tikhomirov
Music	Reinhold Glière
Premiere	14 June 1927 Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, Soviet Union
Original ballet company	Bolshoi Ballet
Characters	Taï-Choa Soviet Captain Li-Chan-Fou Chinese Conjurer Harbormaster of the Port Ma Lichen (1949 staging) Nüwa (2010 staging)
Design	Mikhail Kurilko
Setting	1920s-era Kuomintang China

The Red Poppy (Russian: Красный мак) or sometimes The Red Flower (Russian: Красный цветок) is a ballet in three acts and eight tableaus with an apotheosis, with a score written by Reinhold Glière and libretto by Mikhail Kurilko. This ballet was created in 1927 as the first Soviet ballet with a modern revolutionary theme. Possibly the most famous dance from this ballet is the Sailors Dance, sometimes referred to as the "Russian Sailors Dance" (although it is described as "Dance of the Sailors from the Soviet Ship" in the score and libretto). It is this musical selection for which Glière is perhaps best known. There have been four main versions of The Red Poppy.

The original version of The Red Poppy was choreographed by Lev Lashchiline (1st and 3rd Acts) and Vasily Tikhomirov (2nd Act). The first performance was on 14 June 1927 in the Bolshoi Theatre (which at the time under Soviet rule had been renamed "1st People's State Theatre for Opera and Ballet"). The orchestra was led by Yuri Fayer. The ballet's 100th performance in Moscow occurred on 23 December 1928.

This production was staged in 1928 and 1930 in Sverdlovsk, and in 1928, 1949, and 1958 in Saratov. The Leningradsky Theatre of opera and ballet staged the ballet in 1929 in Leningrad, adding several dances to the production. The original version was performed in 1941 and 1950 in Gorki; in 1946 in Baku by the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre; and in 1949 and 1958 by the Kirov Ballet.