“La Bayadere” is one of the grandest, monumental performances created by Ludwig Minkus and Marius Petipa. The ballet’s story, inspired by an ancient Indian epos, is seen today as a charming Eastern fairytale about love, loyalty and treachery.

Basing on contrast between taut motor rhythms and plastically expressive tunes by L. Minkus, the ballet-master has developed the story of the main heroin’s psychological drama. The part of Nikia, one of the most complicated in all classical ballet repertoire, develops from separate dance phrases in the ritual march of all bayaderes in the first act – to the tragic monologue – dance with a snake in the third act and the amazingly beautiful dance of shadows in the end of the ballet.

The premiere of this ballet took place 135 years ago in Mariinsky Theatre. Since then the ballet has been staged by many of the world’s most important theatres. In different years the main parts in it were played by A. Pavlova, A. Shelest, G. Komleva, A. Volochkova and many others.

Watching this show, music lovers will enjoy crystal exactness and poetic enchantment of solo dance, precision and exquisiteness of corps-de-ballet’s dance pattern. “La Bayadere” of 2012 is the third staging of this ballet in Samara Academic Opera House. The leading soloists of Samara ballet troupe take part in the show.
Choreographer – People’s Artist of USSR, laureate of the State Prize of the RSFSR named after Mikhail Glinka Gabriela Komleva (St. Petersburg);