La Bayadère

La Bayadère premiered at the NNTT in November 2000, and was the first of the ballets to be produced with revised choreography by the artistic director of the time, Maki Asami. Its production had all the formal beauty of classical ballet, with spectacular, rapid stage transformations and lush stage art with deep oriental shades. These qualities gave the production an originality not seen in the original version, and made it a great success. This work offers not only classical ballet's unique beauty, such as an astounding dream scene with the Shades slowly dancing down a three-tier, winding slope, but also captivating drama among the characters. The story features complex and dramatic human relationships between Nikiya, the temple dancer with a subtle inner strength, her lover Solor, who serves the Rajah, Gamzatti, the king's daughter who loves Solor, and the High Brahmin, who also loves Nikiya. At the end of the story, the temple collapses in a thunderous roar, and Nikiya and Solor emerge from the ruins and ascend to the heavens in a scene of breath-taking beauty.