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This new production of "La Bayadere" is a reconstruction of Petipa's 1900 version for the Ballet of the Imperial Theatres in St. Petersburg. (Petipa did his first version of "La Bayadere" in 1877 for the Bolshoi Theatre in St. Petersburg.) Similar to the Kirov's 1999 production of "The Sleeping Beauty", which was a re-creation of Petipa's original 1890 version, this new/old production of "Bayadere" was undertaken by Sergei Vikharev, a ballet master of the Kirov, who had access to Nikolai Sergeyev's choreographic records of the ballet in Stepanov notation which are now kept in the Harvard Theatre Collection.

Ludwig Minkus' full score has also been pieced together after research work on the two volumes of Minkus' hand-written score kept in the Mariinsky Theatre's Music Library, and can now be heard in its entirety. The original costumes for the 1900 production have been meticulously reproduced based on the original sketches by Yevgeny Ponomarev kept in the St. Petersburg Theatre Library, and the technical descriptions of the fabrics etc. in the Russian State History Archives.

The sets have mostly been reproduced from the original canvasses stored in the Mariinsky Theatre's archives, except for the sets for the "Kingdom of the Shades" scene and the final act which are based on the original designs in the St. Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music.

The Kirov deserve praise for their current worthwhile historical research in trying to restore the Petipa classics as close to their original version as possible. However I understand that in Russia, due to a lingering Soviet patriotism, there is a strong opposition from some quarters to this attempt to 'turn back the clock' by removing the additions and changes to these ballets during the Soviet era. Perhaps this is the reason why this reconstructed production of "La Bayadere" has still retained several items of Soviet choreography.

In the August issue of the Dancing Times, Igor Stupnikov was heavily critical of this "Bayadere". Even some Kirov dancers whom I've spoken to in New York also expressed their preference for the Soviet productions which contain more 'dancing' than mime. But it is to the credit of the Kirov Ballet's artistic director Makhar Vaziev that he has larger issues in mind than just keeping his dancers happy. After all, there is no reason why Petipa's original choreography should not be seen by present and future generations of audiences whose tastes may however be understandably different from those of 19th century audiences.

In terms of choreography, the most significant achievement of this new production is the restoration of the 'lost' final act depicting the destruction of the Rajah's palace. This final act now contains the 'pas d'action' which was moved to Act 2 in the Kirov's previous 1941 Soviet production by Vladimir Ponomarev and Vakhtang Chabukiani and turned into a wedding 'grand pas'. (In Natalia Makarova's version for the American Ballet Theatre and the Royal Ballet, the final act's choreography was her own; and as she didn't have Minkus' full score, the final act's music was completed by John Lanchbery.)

In this 'pas d'action' in the final act, Nikiya frequently intrudes into the wedding ceremony. Strangely the solo variations for Gamzatti and Solor, however, still retain the Soviet choreography - Gamzatti's variation choreographed by Pyotr Gusev in 1947 in Petipa's style, and Solor's by Vakhtang Chabukiani which was placed instead in the Kingdom of the Shades scene in the Soviet production, which incidentally was last performed in London in 2000.

Preceding this 'pas d'action' is a lovely garland dance for 24 students entitled the Dance of the Lotus Blossoms, which in New York was danced by American students instead of the Vaganova Academy students.

I now turn to the earlier acts. In Act 1 it was a revelation to see Nikiya's first appearance playing a veena (Indian guitar) at a window in the temple, before she goes on to dance a pas de deux with Solor. And it is dramatically fitting therefore that Nikiya later plays the veena again in the first half of her Act 2 solo during the festivities before she dances with the basket of flowers with a snake hidden inside.

The first two acts of this new/old production now contain far more mime than the other major productions - the Soviet versions (including the Bolshoi's), Makarova's version, as well as Nureyev's version for the Paris Opera Ballet which also omits the final act. And there is a series of grand processions of Brahmins, priestesses, bayaderes, and different groups of Indian castes in the festivities in the beginning of the second scene in Act 2 culminating in Nikiya's death.

The dazzling Golden Idol solo in this second act choreographed by Nikolai Zubkovsky in 1948 for the Soviet production (placed instead in the last act in Makarova's production for the Royal Ballet) has been cut, although the Golden Idol still makes an entrance being lifted on a special platform. Another Soviet addition which has rightly been excised is an out-of-place pas de deux for Nikiya and a slave in the earlier 'two rivals' scene in Act 2 choreographed by Konstantin Sergeyev in 1954.

In Act 3, the fabled Kingdom of the Shades scene is preceded by a mime scene with Gamzatti and Solor who sees Nikiya's ghost appear through a window. In the Shades scene, Solor's entree and coda choreographed by Chabukiani in the 1941 version has been inexplicably retained. The sets depict a bright rocky landscape instead of plain moonlight as in other productions. And the corps de ballet of shades in tarlatan costume wear wigs.

Svetlana Zakharova's Nikiya (not reviewed here but not forgotten!)
Photograph by Natasha Razina

I saw the second cast led by Diana Vishneva and Andrian Fadeyev. (The opening night's cast in New York was Svetlana Zakharova and Igor Kolb.) As Nikiya, Vishneva had a ravishing beauty, and she danced lyrically in the first two acts. Her dancing in the Shades scene had purity as well as grandeur. Fadeyev was a noble Solor with a dazzling technique, and his mime had weight. Elvira Tarasova was dramatically compelling as Gamzatti.

The Kirov's corps de ballet (numbering 32 in New York instead of 48 in St. Petersburg) still danced the "Shades" scene magnificently with a uniformity of style which has always been their hallmark. Among the three Shades soloists, the talented 22-year-old soloist Irina Golub (the best of the three casts of "Don Quixote" in the following week) was particularly impressive in the first solo culminating in a diagonal of 'releves' in arabesque.

This reconstruction by Sergei Vikharev of Petipa's 1900 version, with the sumptuous original sets and costumes, is an eye-filling spectacle. The extended mime scenes and the character dances, all of which were superbly performed, richly complement the classical dancing. From now on this new/old production of the Kirov should be the definitive version of "La Bayadere".