It's easy to take a tour around the world via the Internet these days, but back in the late 19th century, audiences turned to the stage to journey to an exotic land. Balletomanes visited royal India in "La Bayadere" and sunny Spain in "Don Quixote, " and saw pirates and harem girls in "Le Corsaire."

All of these filtered through ballet's master choreographer of the period, Marius Petipa, whose "Swan Lake," "Sleeping Beauty" and "The Nutcracker" remain at the top of the classical ballet list. But of the character ballets, only "Don Quixote," presented by Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre next weekend at the Benedum Center, has survived the test of time.

British writer Richard Buckle once called the 1869 ballet "Don Quixote" a "famous old firework with cheerful tunes by Minkus." It was culled from the Cervantes novel about the adventures of an aging Spanish knight-errant and his sidekick, Sancho Panza.

While the book follows the travels of this man from La Mancha, the ballet centers on an innkeeper's daughter, Kitri (who briefly becomes the Don's ideal woman, Dulcinea), and her lover, Basilio, a barber. The ballet is broken up by a foray into a gypsy encampment with a classically inspired dream sequence and concludes with a wedding in the main square of Barcelona.

At its root, "Don Quixote" is essentially a hybrid production, a classical ballet with an overlay of lacy Spanish movements to give it that flamenco feel. Likewise with the score by Leon Minkus, a Russian composer with a talent for producing melodies to advance the dance and most famous as that rare breed of musician: ballet specialist.

PBT's alumni festivities next weekend will attract dancers from as far away as Germany. A quartet of ballerinas, who each came to define the company during her tenure here, took some time to reminisce about "Don Quixote": Janet Popeleski (1986-92), Tamar Rachelle (1978-1997), Laura Desiree (1982-1999) and one of the current Kitris, Maribel Modrono, who is celebrating her 10th anniversary here this year.

They all have fond memories of the role, some dancing it in as many as three productions. "Headstrong." "Defiant." "A spitfire." "Very much in love." To all of them, Kitri is an entertaining role to dance.

But sometimes it took a headstrong attitude just to make it through a performance.

"Don Quixote" was one of the first ballets that Popeleski, now principal of the student division at the company school, danced at PBT as a guest artist. While on tour in Ohio, she pulled a hamstring, an area that endures extreme stress in this role. With three days of hot and cold compresses provided by manager Loti Falk, she was able to get through the performances at the Benedum Center.

Rachelle, a teacher and Pilates instructor, recalls that she was having trouble with one of her feet and literally couldn't get into her pointe shoe prior to "Don Quixote." With help from a podiatrist, she went on despite numbness in one toe.

Desiree, a stay-at-home mom in the Washington, D.C., area with two children and wife of former principal character dancer Brian Bloomquist, says that her strongest memory is dancing with former principal Stanko Milov as Basilio.

"He was very enthusiastic and never tired," she says.

Modrono, too, identifies with her own leading men -- Willy Shives and Terence Marling among them, along with current partner, Christopher Budzynski.

Despite the fun-loving relationship between Kitri and Basilio, there are still difficulties to overcome. To Desiree, it was the "exhausting" jumps, to Rachelle the turns. She adds that "the technique has to be so solid, but you have to look like you're throwing it away, just tossing it off." With her high arches, Popeleski never liked hopping en pointe in Kitri's famous fan variation.

And that is one of the reasons that "Don Quixote" has survived. The pas de deux that provides the climax of the ballet is a required stepping stone for all aspiring dancers. Along with the "Nutcracker" pas de deux, it is the most popular work at ballet competitions and is easily performed on its own.

There are differences when the pas de deux is performed as part of the ballet or separately. In the full-length ballet, it is a wedding dance, so the couple is usually clad in white. When the piece stands on its own, the dancers play upon the Spanish motifs and wear red and black.

As Desiree points out, when performing the pas de deux alone, the big one-handed lift is often taken from the first act and transplanted into it. And the hops in Kitri's variation can be exchanged for pirouettes.

Popeleski danced the pas de deux for her PBT farewell. It held a "special" meaning to her -- it was a favorite of her mother's, who always liked to see different couples perform "Don Q."

But while Desiree, Popeleski and Rachelle will look back as they hear the familiar swell of music that buoyed their performances, Modrono will have yet another encore.

"It's a great adventure for all of us," she says. "I'm particularly looking forward to having former dancers once again enjoy the spirit of 'Don Quixote.' I'm hoping it takes them back to when they were a part of this organization."