Conductor(s):
Boris Gruzin

Orchestra(s):
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Artist(s):
Marianela Nuñez; Vadim Muntagirov; Natalia Osipova; Gary Avis; Thomas Whitehead; Alexander Campbell; Yuhui Choe; Yasmine Naghdi; Akane Takada; Orchestra of the Royal Opera House; Boris Gruzin

"The Royal Ballet’s revival of La Bayadère is lit up by starry casting. Two of the company’s reigning ballerinas, Marianela Nuñez and Natalia Osipova, face off as the temple dancer Nikiya and her rival, the princess Gamzatti. It makes for a night of powerful personalities and blazing dancing.
The Royal Ballet dance Natalia Makarova’s production with complete conviction. High Brahmins and Rajahs put weight into the traditional mime gestures, while dancing roles are cast splendidly from strength.
Ballerinas aside, La Bayadère is best known for the Shades act, one of the strictest and most beautiful tests of the corps de ballet. Their first entrance is hypnotic. Appearing one by one, performing the same steps in unison, they are like a stage full of reflections, a vision of infinity. The Royal corps were both steady and expansive, with a glowing lyricism in their swaying torsos." (Evening Standard ★★★★)

"La Bayadère is built on insanely generous lines. Marius Petipa’s 1877 original demanded 230 dancers and figurants for the Act II engagement party at the Rajah’s palace and, even without such scenic excesses, Natalia Makarova’s 1989 production for the Royal Ballet offers a feast for the eyes and rich pickings for dancers at every level.
Vadim Muntagirov, dancing Solor on opening night, has the same breathtaking ability to infuse classroom steps with meaning, making every lift an embrace and transforming a swizzling manège of turns into a declaration of love.
This week’s focus has been on the famous names, but the real stars of this ballet are the ghostly band of Bayadères who accompany Nikiya in the Kingdom of the Shades. This legendary ballet blanc has been rehearsed to perfection by the Royal’s Ballet mistress Samantha Raine, the 24 gleaming white tutus tip-tilting nervelessly downstage in arabesque to recreate Petipa’s celestial daisy chain. There was an ovation for Makarova and plenty of bravos for the leads but whatever happened to bravissime?" (The Financial Times ★★★★★)

"...a ridiculously enjoyable night at the ballet.... One of the things that makes La Bayadère – Marius Petipa’s 1877 slice of romantic Orientalist hokum – so particularly lovable is that, perhaps uniquely among story ballets, the corps is the star. True, it offers a full three gold-standard showpiece roles for principal dancers (more of which later). But the passage during which a pin dropped in the stalls would register like a cannon shot does not involve that trio at all." (The Daily Telegraph ★★★★★)

"Let’s take a moment to appreciate the genius of Marianela Núñez. Even when all around her are dancing on the surface, the Argentinian ballerina can turn up and make you want to weep. In her first entrance as Nikiya, the temple dancer in La Bayadère, all she does is walk, slowly and deliberately, a veil over her face. Yet in those few short moments you can see a woman who senses her fate is about to be decided." (The Guardian ★★★)

"...mesmeric and moving... The Royal Ballet excel at every level in Natalia Makarova’s production of an Imperial classic" (The Stage ★★★★★)

"This year marks the bicentenary of the birth of Marius Petipa, the single most important choreographer in the history of classical ballet. And what better way to honour the Frenchman’s legacy than with the Royal Ballet’s revival of La Bayadère, a grand and exotic spectacle that showcases the company in the opulent splendour of his 19th-century Orientalist melodrama." (The Times ★★★★★)