In 2016 Yury Smekalov managed to do a very important and long-cherished project for Mariinsky theatre. He returned to the stage the Rheingold Gliere’s ballet Bronze Horseman. In the production of Rostislav Zakharov in 1949, this performance was once very popular with the public, but for more than thirty years, it was not performed on the Leningrad stage. In the new version, it was decided not to repeat the famous production, but to transform it, adapt it to the modern times and techniques of the ballet-dancers and to the newest possibilities of the stage. Yury Smekalov retained the choreographic design of Rostislav Zakharov's performance, but the dance modesty of that choreodrama now meets the interests of modern performers and the habits of the audience, there are far more jumps and pirouettes.

Smekalov involved in the large-scale work on the restoration of the choreography the performers who once shone in Bronze Horseman. His main task was to gather the whole information, shown by the artists of the older generation, fill in the gaps and add to the scenes dances of the existing ballet. It was decided not to use the Soviet decorations. To transfer the audience to the Pushkin times, the artist Andrew Sevbo invented a completely new decoration of the stage using computer graphics in the scenography. The premiere of Yury Smekalov's production was the central event of the ballet season at the Mariinsky Theater. Almost the entire company was involved in the work on the performance and three casts of performers prepared the main parties. The success of Viktoria Tereshkina as Parasha and Alexander Sergeev as Eugene was awarded with the nominations for the Highest Theater Award of Saint Petersburg Golden Soffit. The premiere of Bronze Horseman opened the annual international ballet festival Mariinsky.