Thank you for the explanation that Solor does not want to marry Gamzatti, but he feels like he has no power to say no. Carlos also shows it very clearly. 💔 Sometimes when watching, I felt Nikiya's love was a bit one-sided but I'll look out for that moment with the Rajah and Solor because it's an important setup.
I am glad to finally know the story of this ballet! I have seen parts of it but couldn't put the pieces together. It kind of has similarities to Romeo and Juliet in places. I hope to see the ballet in its entirety some day!
What a really beautiful video! It is such a pity that so many companies just have the short version, but Royal Ballet and La Scala are doing the original one, luckily. La Bayadere is not given enough credit although it was one of the most successful ballets at its time. (Honestly, I'm not a big fan of La Bayadeere - I will never be team Minkus (; as he was rival to Tchaikowsky ) What I always wondered is the connection to Swan Lake. Both ballets were staged in 1877 at the Bolshoi Theater, only few weeks between them; and somehow they are also very close, I would even dare to say that La Bayadere is just like Swan Lake, just without swans. From the marriage topic to the white act; the fateful decision for marrying the wrong girl, while the right one tries to prevent it; and shortly after it a fatal destruction, but afterlife in an apotheosis. Also the shades are entering just slower than the swans. Of course, there are enough differences, but somehow it is similar with Solor-Nikiya-Gamzatti-High Brahman and Siegfried-Odette-Odile-Rothbart (there are also some Swan Lake productions, making use of this concept, when Odile is early introduced as Siegfried's spouse etc.)..
@@DanceLineBallet It is a pity we actually do not know enough about the development history about these ballets; I also hope to start soon my own channel on ballet; I think both ballet productions tried to do "the best possible" and had the most famous ballets of that time as inspiration: Giselle and La Peri (by Burgmüller, it is today just rarely performed in extracts, but I love the plot very much. Both stories were written by Theophile Gautier (the author of Captain Fracasse, one of my favorite novels - the world is closely conncted (: )
@@felicity1877 Also Team Tchaikovsky here {also Adam and Delibes}, although Bayadere has some of Minkus's better music. I might have said {stealing from the format of the TV Tropes site} There is Only One Ballet Plot, From Which Each Ballet Selects Elements. The comparison you made could also apply to Giselle {Giselle/Albrecht/Hilarious/Myrtha} {Yes, I know it's Hilario} or in a sense the comedic Coppelia {Swanhilda/Franz/Doll/Coppelius}. Someone is involved with, often engaged to, the Wrong Person. Just like operas, ballets often have silly, contrived plots. It's part of their charm. I've been able to trace Swan Lake back to its first successful production but am really curious what the one in 1877 looked like. Have you seen the reconstructions of Bayadere or 1895 Swan Lake available on YT. Swan Lake justifies my belief that the Off to Paradise in the Boat ending was the one for which the music was written. Don't get me started on the contemporary Siegfried Marries Odile ending lols! 😉
@@minissa2009 You are completely right that there is the certain ballet plot with tropes, and I also agree with the Coppelia-example (though, Swanilda is indeed pretending to be Coppelia, and that is why, I have also been wondering whether this trope (The lover in mask test, such like also in operas, for example Cosi fan tutte and Le nozze di Figaro) is actually used in Swan Lake - or perhaps turned upside down. But apart from love triangles and quadruples in ballets (for example also La Sylphide-James-Effi-Gurn or Esmeralda-Phoebus-Fleur-Frollo....), there were explicit ballets used as inspiration - because the plot is very similar and also the libretto has literal quotes from it. At the moment, I am also translating the 1877 Swan Lake libretto from the Russian sourc, with the help of Wiley's one; and with the help of the listed cast, I think we have a nice impression how it probably looked like. Tracking down the plot from its sources, helps also to understand the sillyness of the story and eventually prove the necessarity of the Off to Paradise ending. I also hope to post at last somehow here on RU-vid my results and ideas, but I have to figure out how to make it and also with copyright etc...... (and yes, I have seen the reconstructed version of La Bayadere on RU-vid and snippets from the Ratmansky Swan Lake reconstruction; and ballets would rather add happy endings to a story, just like Coppelia, Esmeralda and Le Corsaire are comical adaptions; so, a not-happy-ending makes no sense in such a classical fairy tale, like Swan Lake.)
@@felicity1877 That is so cool that you not only found that text but are translating it! Would love to read it when you're finished. Is it just the libretto or does it have the choreograph notes?
One thing that makes it tough is that a lot of companies omit the Temple Destruction scene. Without that, I feel the ballet loses a lot of its dramatic sense. There is some extra music in this production composed by God's gift to dance conducting, John Lanchberry. That along with the choreography Makarova developed makes it a little more coherent.
Thank you for this summary. I love this ballet, especially the "Kingdom of the Shades" scene. The entree of the bayaderes down a ramp, repeating the same sequence of steps, is a test of strength/endurance for any corps de ballet.
Just a little silly ballet humor. Rojo and Nunez are two of the world's best technicians, especially when it comes to turning. I was waiting for someone to mime out something like, "Solor will marry the one who can do the most turns from a single preparation." :)
@@DanceLineBallet I should have added that then the gods would be appeased. And I actually did not know that the first scene represented an actual thing called the Ritual of Fire. I did remember Rojo pulling off the best turns I've ever seen on the "scarf" dance in the Shades scene and then executing a quintuple pirouette in the following solo. Because my eyes popped out of my head lols!
Molto bello! Complimenti! Avete trovato il modo di incuriosire e portare lo spettatore a cercare e approfondire le proprie conoscenze di un'altra bella danza....! Whauuu!
My only critique is that you could have picked the original ending music, as the music of Nikiya's solo was just at an end at the point of the temple destruction at 9:22, and that angelic music as they ascend the steps is just to die for. Very nicely done, and a great cast! I have almost all of the Rojo-Acosta ballets on DVD, and the ones with Nela too. They are just gems.
Questo video non è bello. È meraviglioso, perfetto, stupendo, fantastico!!!!!!!!!!!!! Grazie davvero tantissimo. Sarà la decima volta che lo rivedo ma lo potrei vedere all' infinito! Oltre al fatto che il cast scelto è ottimo , il fatto che avete usato le musiche del balletto e le sue scene è un' idea ottima. Infinite stelle su 5. Vi prego fate altri video così che sono stupendi. Ormai controllo ogni giorno se è uscito un nuovo video dal vostro canale Grazie infinite, davvero. Grazie per tutto quello che fate è meraviglioso!
Wow that was amazing. Thanks this was so helpful. I am doing a repertoire class on La Bayadere next week in ballet and this helped me to understand the story.
Save for having Nunez as Nikiya {or maybe both Nikiya and Gamzatti if you want to go full Solor crazy} this was one of the best casts and productions you could have chosen. Thanks!
You can't do "DALLAS" or "DYNASTY" en pointe. Story is too complicated to do all in ballet and mime. The audience will have to do a lot of hurried, feverish reading of their programme notes before the lights go down, to keep up with what on earth is going on. By the way I understand that most Soviet- Russian productions used to end La Bayadere at the end of Kingdom of the Shades. The last act with the marriage of Solor and Gamzatti had been dropped for years, the choreography locked away and long forgotten in the Soviet Union. So when Natalia Makarova staged her full-length Bayadere production for the very first time at ABT in 1980, she basically had to make the whole thing up herself and choreograph from scratch. I'd say her third act as staged by ABT and now the Royal Ballet was a very resourceful piece of work.
Missing the most importance part snake dance to evaluate Tamara Rojo's ballet skill , and background music was totally mismatched with La Bayadere. The worst short introduction video for balletomane on such key major ballet .
Do you really think you need that part to evaluate Tamara Rojo's skills? I think it's evident without watching the entire scene. Background music is "background music" as you said, so it doesn't has to match at any cost with what's happening on the screen. The introduction was short but I think it's been cut because there are no many interesting "danced" parts in Bayadère's intro, except bayaderes dance or some small other moment. This is my opinion but I think it's been done a pretty good job considering they put 2 hours or more in 10 min, c'mon.
Have your opinion by all means but don't miss the original point - the poster attempted to give us a ten-minute synopsis of what is a very, very long evening at the ballet. Lots of mime, lots of lunges, lots of silent movie-style eye rolls. Give the video creator a break, considering their time constraint, they did a great job.
