The legendary choreographer Marius Petipa created the ballet La Bayadère to music by Ludwig Minkus. The premiere was in St. Petersburg in 1877. The ballet is an example of unabashedly romantic exoticism. The story is about an Indian temple dancer and her fatal love for a warrior who is engaged to the daughter of the Raja. However, don't expect Indian dance moves. This is all about classical ballet
… on pointe shoes. The suggestion of oriental dance is mainly given by the dance attributes, the veils and temple candles. This reconstruction of Petipa's ballet by Natalia Makarova is much loved, thanks in part to the beautiful sets by Pier Luigi Samaritani. The Royal Ballet here shows classical ballet at its best with breathtakingly beautiful dances from Tamara Rojo as the temple dancer and Marianela Nuñez as her rival in love. Carlos Acosta is also a great dancer, but unfortunately does not have such an interesting role here. All the more spectacular is the short acrobatic role of the Bronze Idol, in which the dancer's body is completely covered with a bronze dye. (CP)more
