Better the “Bayadera” of Rudolf Nureyev or that of Natalja Makarova? There is no answer, of course, because both versions of Petipa and Minkus’ nineteenth-century ballet are at the top. But the question is plausible because both have been seen at La Scala, albeit in very different years. The La Scala dance season has now opened with that of Nureyev and will be repeated until January 13th. A choice of the director of the company Manuel Legris who played it at the Paris Opera.
A sensationally successful inauguration. For the protagonists Nicoletta Manni, Maria Celeste Losa and Timofej Andrijashenko. For the whole company acclaimed not only at the end of the evening, but also, for example, after the enchantment of the shadow scene. The plot foresees that the warrior Solor, secretly in love with the bajadera Nikija, but betrothed to Gamzatti, the daughter of the Raja, seeks refuge in opium after the death of Nikija bitten by a snake that the evil and jealous Gamzatti had hidden in a basket of flowers. In the fumes of the drug Solor dreams that the ghosts of 24 bajadere come out on stage one at a time and descend from a slope, all with the same step, an arabesque, repeated endlessly. It is “The Kingdom of Shadows” and for the magic of this scene alone it is worth attending the show. It is a must here to mention Lucinda Childs who considered it the first minimalist ballet in history. For the rest it is a very classy ballettone. And who made his debut at La Scala with the sets and costumes by Luisa Spinatelli. (the Opérasi is held those of Squarciapino and Frigerio). A story of betrayed love and death between Brahmins, slave fakirs and the golden idol who obviously dances too. Indeed it is a much awaited moment even if it has only one variation which is pure skill and energy. To which Federico Fresi gave all the necessary determination and style.
It takes a while to get to the actual dance. As in all the dances of that time, pantomime was rampant. But it is part of the game and when it is interpreted with skill and conviction as here it can please even the most staunch supporters of pure dance. Which is still poured out with both hands. At the center of the show, before the fateful appointment with the Shadows, there is the great party for the engagement of Solor and Gamzatti, where the duet of the protagonists is surrounded by the variations of the revelers. Savages with drums, girls with amphorae, then with fans, with green budgies.
Of course it’s not Ibsen and the characters don’t have great depth. It is the commitment of the performers to make them as dramatic as possible. Manni and Andrijashenko are. The blond Timofej, that is Solor, has the allure of a warrior and takes on the manège with the assemble. With more authority than in the “Corsaro”
Manni has two moments …… at the Solor Festival and Gamzatti shows up in a blood red oriental dress and performs a slow and then ecstatic dance for the celebrated. Movements that get faster and faster when they offer her a basket of flowers. He approaches it to his chest and the snake decrees his death. Workhorse of many greats, such as Svetlana Zacharova who will dance it in Scala on January 5th. And then the phantasmatic, lyrical double step with Solor as a shadow to which complex moments are dedicated. Perfect the developpè at the second not too high
The original was staged at the Mariinsky Theater in 1877, Ekaterina Vazem and Pavel Gertd danced at the premiere. Then a series of divine of Mariinski starting from Kshesinskaja, absolute mistress of the theater and very attached to the future Nicholas II. At the time there was also a fourth act where during the wedding of the perjurers the shadow of Nikija appeared, invoking the revenge of the Gods: earthquake, collapse of the temple. And final apotheosis with Nikija and Solor descending to heaven. Since the Soviet 1930s the act has disappeared (lost sets, lack of money, “let’s stop at the Shadows, which are a nice ending”). Today everyone stops after the Shadows. Except for the version of Makarova who also reconstructed the fourth act.
In Scala at the moment of thanks, enthusiasm, applause, flowers and kisses to the public, delirium for the skill of the orchestra conducted by Kevin Rodhes. But also chaste kiss on the lips between Manni and Andrijashenko. Because they are also linked in real life.