"Arabesque" is a Russian ballet competition that was founded to be open for foreign dancers to participate in. Since 1990 more than 650 young ballet artists and students of choreography schools from almost all the ballet companies of Russia, former republics of the USSR, as well as of Austria, Argentina, Bulgaria, Byelorussia, China, Croatia, Egypt, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Mongolia, Slovenia, South Korea, Turkey, the USA, Venezuela have taken part in this contest.

The artistic director of the competition and the chairman of the Jury is a People's Artist of the USSR Vladimir Vasiliev, who was also the chairman of the Jury in 1990, 1992 and 1994. Since 1996 Ekaterina Maximova, a People's Artist of the USSR, headed this post.

In different times among the members of the Jury were Vyatcheslav Gordeev, Raisa Struchkova, Evgeny Valukin, Galina Shlyapina (Moscow), Gabriella Komleva, Nikolai Boyarchikov, Alexey Miroshnichenko (St.-Petersburg), Natalia Akhmarova, Ludmila Sakharova, Kirill Shmorgoner, Vladimir Tolstukhin (Perm), Leonora Kuvatova (Ufa), Alexander Muntagirov (Hanty-Mansiysk), Marat Daukaev, George Zoritch (USA), Yukari Saito, Kenji Usui and Kyozo Mitani, Morihiro Iwata (Japan), Vera Kirova, Sylvia Tomova (Bulgaria), Irina Baronova (Great Britain), Dietmar Seyffert (Germany), Jamiyadava Baljinnyam (Mongolia), Vadim Pisarev, Radu Poklitary (Ukraine), Park Jae Keun (Korea Republic), Nina Novak (Venezuela), Aivar Leimanis (Latvia), Galina Ragozina-Panova (Israel), Vilen Galstyan (Armenia), Zarko Prebil (Italy), Georgy Aleksidze (Georgia) and others.

The Jury of Press traditionally works during the competition. It includes renowned ballet critics, historians and journalists from Russia and abroad.

The creation of the Jury of Press was inspired by the unforgettable Natalia Chernova. During the years, the Jury was headed by Ekaterina Belova and Sergey Korobkov.

In 1994 "Arabesque" was admitted and taken under patronage of UNESCO. The President of the International Council of Dance (UNESCO) Milorad Miskovitch was a member of the Jury twice.

The ballet competition "Arabesque" has already become traditional; it takes place in Perm State Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet Theatre, one of the oldest theatres in Russia, built up in the 19th century on the initiative of the democratic community of Perm, with participation of the municipal musical society, to which belonged a world-famous family Diaghilev. In this family, in the atmosphere of worship to theatre, a well-known impresario of Russian art Sergey Diaghilev spent his youth. Now the Grand Prix of the competition "Arabesque" bears the name of Sergey Diaghilev.

The competition, in the course of the 20 years of existence, had been dedicated to various events of the cultural life of Perm and Russia:
   «Arabesque–98» — to the 275th anniversary of the city of Perm,
   «Arabesque–2002» — to the 130th anniversary of Sergey Diaghilev,
   «Arabesque–2008» — to the jubilee of the creative activities of the legendary duet: Ekaterina Maximova and Vladimir Vasiliev,
   «Arabesque–2010» — to the blessed memory of Ekaterina Maximova, the great Russian ballerina.

The main aims of this unique in Russia ballet competition were always the striving to open new names, to give a chance to young talented artists to show their worth, to promote classical heritage and contemporary choreography, to develop contacts with foreign representatives of ballet art.