Abstract: The article is devoted to the critical evaluation of Marius Petipa's ballets by an editor, playwright and ballet addict Sergey Khudekov. In his articles published in the newspapers of the second half of the XIXth century ('Russian Stage', 'Musical Light', 'Petersburg Paper', 'Petersburg News', etc.) Sergey Khudekov gave a varied evaluation of the events that were happening on the Petersburg ballet stage. Khudekov, who wrote those articles, showed himself as a great expert in ballet, ballet-master profession and creation of a ballet show. Besides descriptions of the ballet theatre everyday life and evaluations of Marius Petipa's premier ballets, Sergey Khudekov drew the reader attention to the civil and moral state of the ballet environment. The conclusion of the article is that Marius Petipa's ballets proved the important role of art in the aesthetic education of the society, that being the mission Khudekov believed the ballet to have.