Australia Dancing - Bayadere, La

Bayadere, La

McFarlane, Jim: Darcey Bussell and Damien Welch as Nikiya and Solor in 'La Bayadere', the Australian Ballet, 1998

La Bayadere premiered in St Petersburg on 4 February 1877, heralding choreographer Marius Petipa's trademark fusion of European Romanticism, evident in the exotic setting and supernatural elements, with Tsarist Russian classical style. It was not seen in the West until 1961, when the excerpt 'The Kingdom of the Shades' was performed by the Kirov Ballet during the London tour which saw Nureyev's defection. The first full-length western staging was by Natalia Makarova for America Ballet Theatre in 1980, with Makarova reconstructing Petipa's final apocalyptic act that had disappeared from the Kirov version when the scenery was destroyed during the Revolution.

Makarova subsequently staged La Bayadere for a number of international companies, bringing her version to the Australian Ballet in 1998, four years after the Bolshoi Ballet had introduced Australian audiences to the work. John Lanchbery arranged the Ludwig Minkus score for the Australian Ballet production. The set, costume and lighting design (by PierLuigi Samaritani, Theoni V Aldredge and Brad Fields) were all courtesy of the American Ballet Theatre. On opening night at the State Theatre on 20 February 1998, Nikiya was danced by Nicole Rhodes, Solor by Li Cunxin, Gamzatti by Miranda Coney and the Bronze Idol by David McAllister. Darcey Bussell guested in some performances of this Melbourne season.

'The Kingdom of the Shades' had entered the repertoire of the Australian Ballet eleven years prior to Makarova's full-length production for the company, within which it appears as an Act II scene. This excerpt is an opium-inspired hallucinatory vision in the mind of the warrior Solor. The piece demands harmonised movement from the corps de ballet, which, as described by Makarova in the 1998 program, appears as 'one body multiplied into infinity by Solor's hallucination'. Petipa's classical style is evident in the purity of the geometric lines, the simplicity of movement, and the costuming, with the Shades wearing classical tutus rather than long romantic ones, despite their ethereal nature.

The Leningrad Kirov Ballet brought 'The Kingdom of the Shades' to Australia in 1973. Its first staging for the flagship company, in 1987, was by the Rumanian ballerina Magdalena Popa who was ballet mistress of the National Ballet of Canada at the time. The music for this production was arranged by John Lanchbery, and lighting was by William Akers. At the premiere, Christine Walsh danced as Nikiya, David Ashmole as Solor, and Elizabeth Toohey, Sian Stokes and Ulrike Lytton as the Shadows. This work has remained in the company’s repertoire, most recently being staged as part of the 'White' program in 2005.

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