Babek (Azerbaijani: Babək) is a heroic Spartacus-like ballet in two acts, based on the story of the people’s liberation struggle against Abbasid Caliphate under the leadership of Babak Khorramdin.
[1] The ballet creation narrates the story of the brave Iranian national hero, Babak Khorramdin, who in the 9th century led the rebellion against foreign occupying forces and local feudal lords in Iran.
For more than twenty-two years, Babak bravely fought the Arab invaders from his remote castle in the mountains of northwestern Iran and inflicted heavy casualties on the army of the Abbasid Caliphate.
Thus, Babek was introduced for the first time in the West and for a European audience sixteen years after its world premiere in Baku.
Staging of Babek in Stockholm was also the first presentation of the art form of Azerbaijanian ballet outside the country after the fall of the Soviet Union.