Bolshoi Ballet: LA BAYADERE

Director: Vincent Bataillon

Russia, 200

Screenwriter: Original choreography: Marius Petipa, in a new version by Yuri Grigorovich.

Cast: Principal dancers include: Svetlana Zakharova, Maria Alexandrova and Vladislav Lantratov.

 

Cinestudio brings a little heat to the winter chill with this passionate ballet from the storied stage of the Bolshoi Ballet. La Bayadere is a key work in the classical repertoire first created in 1877 by Marius Petipa (Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake). Yuri Grigorovich’s updated version is set in an Indian temple, where the beautiful dancer Nikiya and the warrior Solor meet in secret. However, the High Brahmin, who is also in love with Nikiya, rushes to reveal their secret to the Rajah. Bolshoi principals Svetlana Zakharova, Vladislav Lantratov and Maria Alexandrova are exquisite, and the influential “abstract” Dance of the Shades, with 32 women in the corps dancing as spirits in unison, is eerily graceful.

“Transcendence is what that’s all about.” – Alistair MacCauley, New York Times.