La Bayadère (Albert Mirzoyan after Marius Petipas): Première, Hungarian State Opera Ballet, June 14th, 2025

Jun 16

Jun 16 La Bayadère (Albert Mirzoyan after Marius Petipas): Première, Hungarian State Opera Ballet, June 14th, 2025

La Bayadère (Albert Mirzoyan after Marius Petipas): Première, Hungarian State Opera Ballet, June 14th, 2025

The applause spoke for itself: An extremely successful première. Surely a night to remember!

In a world in which being „politically correct“ became fashionable, I know many politically incorrect people who act as if they were „very correct“.

There are too many people in the ballet world losing their time with critiques of this classic work. And this as if they wouldn’t have anything else to worry about.

I think that Jeanette Andersen summarised the answer to a certain question quite simply and logically in her (very good) critique from 2024. It referred to the staging of Patrick Bart's version, which was commissioned for the Bavarian State Ballet. Therefore, I must quote her:

„Is it politically correct to put a ballet like Marius Petipa’s La Bayadère (1877) on stage today, with its westernised and romanticised version of a snippet of Indian culture that’s a far cry from reality? Absolutely yes, if you can accept the fact that it was created in a bygone era ruled by values differing from ours of today, and if you can see it as the fairytale it is.“

I would like to remind you of a headline in „The Guardian", a few years ago, which I also quote here:

„ Arguing over Art is right, but trying to ban it is the work of fascists"!

We could discuss a little about stereotypes but not forgetting the Operas and their stereotyped „Turandot“ (China), „Madama Butterfly“ (Japan) and „Lakmé“ (India), not forgetting Gilbert and Sullivan's Operettas „Mikado“ and „The pirates of Penzeance“ and the incredibly stereoptyped „Don Quixote“ (also music by the Austrian Minkus and choreography by Petipas), displaying all the clichées of how the French and all others „above the Pyrenees“ imagine the Spanish: all girls wearing their head flowers like Asian South Sea beauties and all men screming „Olé, olé, olé“ incessantly... talking about clichées...

Nearly all modern versions of La Bayadère are derived from Vladimir Ponomarec and Vakhtang Chabukiani's 1941 version staged for the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet (It still remains in the company's repertory to this very day). In the West, Natalia Makarova staged the first full-length (all four acts) production of La Bayadère in 1980 for the American Ballet Theatre, a version that is also derived from Ponomarev and Chabukiani's production.

There are some „legends“ about the “loss” of the fourth act: one claims that the delivery of the set for the fourth act did not arrive on time in Moscow... the other tells of a flood in St. Peterburg during which the sceneries were lost and the machinery (to the destruction of the temple) was damaged (in a Russia just after the revolution there was no money to repair it). None of them explain why parts of the music were lost, though… Wherever the truth may be I still believe that in an after revolution USSR (which was created in 1922) there was no place (or interest) to show, first, an ever-lasting love that refuses to die, that defies time, space and life itself and, second, it was not the right time to show the destruction of an „institution“ (The Hindu temple, that could be a metaphor to „power, strenght, dictatorship and so on... ). Think of that!

About last night's delightful performance:

Albert Mirzoyan's staging of „La Bayadère“ after Petipas, no question, is a very elaborate, complex, and costly production. It is blessed (yes, I prefer to use this word instead of just „filled“) with such an abundance of details, in the purest Mariinsky tradition, that makes you wonder how the company was able to catch all this information in the rehearsal and preparation period of six weeks. All this contributes meticulously to the perfect storytelling, which in the purest dance language, is transmitted to the audience. Even to those who happen not to know the ballet. This is what I am always looking for: Dramaturgy being transferred in all the glory of its emotional strength and depth. From the „soul“ that has created it to the choreographer that will put it into „dance language“. In this case of „La Bayadère“, we are even luckier. Dramaturgy and Choreography rest on the shoulders of the same Artist: Mr Mirzoyan.

And how I appreciate that. I have spent quite a few years in Vienna watching, production after production, the non-concretisation of this „transfer“ (Idea/Dramaturgy into Action/Dance Language), but this is another story, completely.

Mr Mirzoyan's knowledge, savoir-faire, experience and pinpointed sensibility should be mentioned in the foreground when we discuss this particular production, for without this „baggage“, which should be handled with care because of its porcelain-like consistency, there would not be the results that we have experienced on last evening's stage.

The company is in incredible shape. and was extremely well-coached and guided. Not only that, but in „unison“. Pin-pointed exactness, togetherness (not only physically but also mentally), coordination. And this not only on what „technique“ is concerned (Note: I mean the way „technique“ may be, unfortunately understood nowadays; just the „bravura“, the „circus-like“ virtuosity of it) but the subtle side of it, the precise efacés and écartés in bigger groups of the corps de Ballet, the exact holding of one's arms and hands, the bending of a head. Yes, these, the so-called minuscule things that must also be projected into the big auditorium. Chapeau. Good work.

The High Brahmin was exceptionally well-played by Mikalai Radziush. A dancer with great charisma, he proceeded to monopolise the audience's attention every time he was on stage. The role is an example of how a dancer, even having a minimal vocabulary of movements, minimalistic, can still catch the awareness of the public.

Special Praise to the “Pas d'action“, especially to Rafaello Barbieri and Tymofiy Bykovets, who gave an extremely coordinated and synchronised performance. Lovely Stefanilda Ovcharenko with her „jug“ in a fresh and uncomplicated moment – I just found the two little girls, who accompanied her beautifully, a bit too young to be already on their „toes“. They were lovely, but their bones, at such a young age, are still a bit too soft for that.

Motomi Kiyota delighted the public with his „Golden idol“ - a show-stopper in every sense but one that requires precision, sustaining power, and perseverance.

Riku Yamamoto, with Dumitru Taran and Katerina Taraszova, also stopped the show with their drumming dance solo and Hindu dance. Power and dynamism that electrified the stage. The audience, first stunned and then roared with joy.

Maria Beck as Gamzatti gave a beautiful reading of the role. A reading filled with nuances that not only fit the character, giving hints of not only strength and willingness to get what she wants (Solor) but also insecurities, as in the first moment when, sitting, she lifts Nikiya's head and realises that she is possessed of such beauty. A moment that, due to its delicacy, was kept „photographed “ in my mind.

Interesting but traditional at the Mariinsky: During her first appearance in the second act, Gamzatti wears shoes with low heels – Contrary to „Western“ versions, Gamzatti has no variations in this act.

Louis Scrivener, as Solor, still has a way to go to conquer the role and claim it his own. Don't misunderstand me. He is a good dancer, a very good one indeed. Technically, his interpretation is nearly flawless, and he is a good, reliable partner. But his character construction is still very precarious. It lacks continuity, especially in the “being in the role” department. Sometimes, just after dancing and observing Nikiya or while walking hand in hand with Gamzatti to take a seat and watch Nikiya dance, he „leaves“ the character behind – and one can see this plainly on the way his body loosens as if relaxing from the attitude and (healthy) tension while portraying, carrying a character.

Every time he finished a variation or pas de deux, it was as if he felt that he was not on stage anymore. Every time, he disconnected completely from the character. But he was on stage. There's work to be done in his performance.

Tatyiana Melnyk personified Nikiya with dignity, charisma, tenderness, and humanity (also getting upset, desperate and threatening to kill Gamzatti is a „human“ reaction). Nikiya is a wonderful, rich character to portray. I won't go into all the technical „bits and bobs“ as well as more significant steps because it was all there. In every nuance needed for the role. Precisely in the right dosage.

Miss Melnyik gave Nikiya a certain seriousness and never let her fall to the level of being just „a victim“. Her Portrayal was of a woman who is terribly wronged and treated unfairly and turns into a character with whom one can identify (Note: I just wonder if, in real life she would take Solor back even when „death brings them together“. He was also not very honest and fair to her, right?).

The sets by István Rózsa are not only beautiful but imposing (So good to see a temple „falling apart“ really and not with the visual help of artificial lighting and computer tricks. The costumes by Nóra Rományi are a joy and delight to be admired. Real Ballet costumes, in every detail. And all this „bathed“ in the beautiful work of lighting designer Tamás Pillinger.

An evening of extreme professionalism and Artistry. All this was made possible by the indescribable work of Mr Albert Mirzoyan, who supervised every single aspect of the production in a period of more or less two years. As the saying goes: Good things take time (And „Good things are worth waiting for“!).

Highly recommendable to those who trully appreciate ballet – AND I am sure that those, who do not yet appreciate it as it should be appreciated, will think a little differently after watching such a display of choreography, colours, music, harmony, beauty and joy in a ballet that combines not only a plot but has so many „divertissements“ that are extremely enjoyable.

Ricardo Leitner

a t t i t u d e

Vienna, June 15th, 2025

P.S. After the show, there was time for mingling a little and long talks, not only with Albert Mirzoyan but also with Tamás Solymosi, the Artistic Director of the company. After a short briefing and details about the company that has more or less 130 dancers, being one of the biggest ensembles in Europe (For example, Vienna has more or less 125 dancers, but divided into two companies), and its internationality, I found out that there were this years 1.600 dancers applying for jobs in the company. Congartulations and „Chapeau“!