La Bayadere Queensland Ballet March 2018

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Well, yes, it's La Bayadere, but not as you know it. Not, that is, if you have in mind Makarova's production for American Ballet, which has been presented by many companies internationally since then. The Australian Ballet is one such company, and their production of La Bayadere was the first in a series of steps that resulted in my present obsession with ballet. At the time however, I sat throughout the evening in horror. 'Haven't these people read Edward Said' was all I could think of. 'Don’t they know about Orientalism?' Greg Horsman (previosly ballet master, Northern Ballet, then ENB, now Ballet Master at QB) has significantly reduced the spectre of Orientalism in his reworking of the story. The time is early nineteenth century and Solor is son of the Rajah of Cooch Behar, a kingdom that has been locked in battle with the British. Peace is agreed, to be sealed by the marriage of Solor to the Governor General's daughter, Edith. Gamzatti is nowhere to be seen. Of course, Solor ia actually deeply in love with Nikiya and is horrified by his father's order. He consents, however, believing that he and Nikiya can elope. At their engagement party however, Nikiya, unaware of what is afoot, comes to dance, and, unable to resist, Solor embraces her. Confronted by her fiance's real affections, Edith stabs Nikiya to death. The following scene, the kingdom of the shades, is pretty much straight Makarova/Petipa, and leads into the wedding celebrations, where Solor, drunk on wine (and opium) collapses and is taken to his room. Edith tries to seduce him, and on being rebuffed, screams that she is responsible for Nikiya's death. In a blind rage, Solor strangles her and is in turn shot by British soldiers, falling through a window to his death.

Obviously, with such a radical remaking of the story, there is a great deal of new choreography, and Greg Horsman has done a good job of integrating the original and the new. Principals Victor Estevez and Laura Hidalgo as Solor and Nikiya imbued their roles with tenderness, lyricism and passion. The role of Edith was the disappointment of the evening. Lucy Green is in general a fine dancer, but this time she had a petulant, self-centred brat to present, more suited to one of the ugly sisters in Cinderella than to an avatar of the aristocratic Gamzatti. The highlight of the performance, the kingdom of the shades was reasonably well done, though the staging, with the shades passing in front of a glorious yellow full moon, was wonderful. The music, under the direction og Nigel Gaynor, was outstanding, the score being extensively re-arranged and attempts made to in incorporate some aspects of Indian music, especially in the Prologue. Overall, a successful production.