It was premiered at the Kirov Theatre in Leningrad on 7 November 1932, with Natalia Dudinskaya as Mireille de Poitiers, Vakhtang Chabukiani as Jérôme, Olga Jordan as Jeanne, Nina Anisimova as Thérèse, and Konstantin Sergeyev as Mistral.

A new production (using some of the original choreography) was staged in 2008 by Alexei Ratmansky for the Bolshoi Ballet and is available on DVD with Ivan Vasiliev and Natalia Osipova.

At the height of this scene, the officers of the Marquis arrive in the square; Jeanne, recognizing the man who insulted her in the woods, runs up and slaps his face.

For the part of Thérèse, for example, Vainonen chose a character dancer Nina Anisimova, who displayed strong, expressive folk movements which symbolized the energy and the spirit of the crowd.

As a further technique for putting classical dancing on the stage, Vainonen invented the roles of the pair of actors, Mireille de Poitiers and Antoine Mistral, who have been invited by the king to perform at the banquet.

These were originally danced by Natalia Dudinskaya and Konstantin Sergeyev and are designed for outstanding ballet dancers who can display their virtuosity in a classical pas de deux.

In the scene at the palace of Louis XVI there is a great deal of mime sequences whilst Mireille de Poitiers dances a minuet, which is a beautiful piece of choreography in itself.