IF YOU LOVE fabulous dancing (particularly by the male of the species), an impossibly irreverent attitude toward history, an expansive sense of storytelling, spectacle unlike any other, and dozens of costume changes, and don't mind so-so choreography and taped music shamelessly stitched together, don't miss the return of Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg – a company that Russians, particularly dissident Russians from the 1970s, have known about for years. In this country the Russian émigré community has been flocking to Eifman's tours ever since the company made its U.S. debut in 1998. Word has slowly leaked out, and every time around its audiences have become more diverse. On its fourth trip back to San Francisco, company founder Boris Eifman is finally presenting what is still probably his best piece, Red Giselle, a half-true story that follows ballerina legend Olga Spessivtseva as she romances a Bolshevik secret agent, then falls in love with Serge Lifar while dancing Giselle in Paris, and ends up spending 20 years in a mental institution near New York City until friends finally manage to get her out. How's that for drama?

Wed.-Sat., 8 p.m. (also Sat., 2 p.m.); Sun., 2 p.m., 3301 Lyon, S.F. $45-$55. (415) 392-4400. (Rita Felciano)