© Asya Verzhbinsky RB 'La Bayadere' reviews 'La Bayadere' reviews Acosta in reviews Rojo in reviews Nunez in reviews recent RB reviews

Tamara Rojo was Nikiya, Carlos Acosta was Solor and Marinela Nunez was Gamazatti, and it is difficult to imagine a better casting. Rojo's Nikiya lacked some necessary vulnerability and pathos in the role, but more than made up for this with her extraordinary technical control (did I dream than she turned slowly on point in unsuppported arabesque? Probably, but she held some of her balances so long that I can be forgiven this lapse). Acosta was a gracious partner to both Rojo and Nunez, with a pleasing warmth and wit to his performance. His dancing was clean and explosively powerful, as witnessed by the whistling and shouting reaction of the audience. (I do wonder, though, if any male dancer has merely to conclude a series of flying turns with a deep back-bend on his knees to elicit a similar reaction from the audience).

Tamara Rojo as Nikiya
Photograph by Asya Verzhbinsky

The big surprise was Marienela Nunez. Scarcely out of her teens, this Argentine-born dancer took utter command of the stage as Gamzatti, from her first appearance as the rich and spoilt daughter of the Rajah, to her final one as the betrayed bride. I don't want to get too excited here, but is it possible that RB have at last got a dramatic dancer worthy of the name? Nunez seemed easy and beautiful in her dancing and extraordinarily commanding in her acting, a rare combination, especially in one so young.

The Shades scene went pretty well. There was a slight ragedness in the corps at times, but they pulled together in the end. Only the Kirov can pull off a perfect 'Shades' scene I reckon (and the POB aren't bad either) but this was an excellent RB showing, especially for a first night

Justin Meissner as the Head Fakir put in a note-worthy high-jumping performance, and Ivan Putrov as the Bronze Idol fulfilled all the technical demands of the role without, somehow, stunning us, as the cheeky Kumakawa did some years ago - it's almost a contradiction in terms, but his Bronze Idol was unshowy.

Incidentally, I pulled out an RB programme 'Bayadere' dating back to December 1990, and what a cast that was! Asylmuratova as Nikiya, Guillem as Gamzatti and Mukhamedov as Solor! David Drew was the Rajah then as he was last night, and most surprisingly one of the d'jampe dancers then was Vanessa Palmer and she was one of the d'jampe dancers again last night (she probably won't thank me for pointing this out...)

Jaimie Tapper
Photograph by Asya Verzhbinsky

I do love this lush production, most especially the effectively exotic backdrop for the wedding scene, where you feel as if you are on the huge the balcony of a very rich man's house. The costumes too are suitably extravagent, but oh, please can somebody do something about the corps boys get-up in that wedding scene? They are just plain daft, what with something that looks like a bra top with a short skirt and little pointy hats which seem deliberately designed to be unflattering.

As I got back to my seat for the final act, I discovered that the blonde woman sitting next to me was none other than Marianela Nunez's mum, who had flown from Argentina especially for the occasion. She didn't speak any English, but there was no disguising her pride and excitement. I learned that Marianela was one of four children, that she had been dancing since she was three years old and there was no history of dancing at all in the family. On last night's showing, the lady must have thought her long journey well worth the effort.