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In Act 1 it is a revelation that Nikiya's first appearance is by a window in the temple playing a veena (Indian guitar), before she goes out to dance a pas de deux with Solor. In her later dance in Act 2 she aptly dances with the veena again, echoing that scene in Act 1, before being presented with the basket of flowers whch has a viper inside. In the celebrations scene in Act 2 the suite of processions of priestesses, bayaderes and other castes of Indian society is a lavish, eye-filling exotic spectacle. In particular, the fiery Indian drum dance is most exciting, displaying the Kirov's unique tradition of character dancing at its best.

In Act 3 there is now an additional confrontation scene, before the Shades scene, for Gamzatti and Solor who keeps being distracted by Nikiya's shadow. In the Shades scene, the coda for Nikiya in Petipa's original choreography, which is more inventive than the series of pique turns in the Soviet version. And in the final act the Dance of the Lotus Blossoms as performed by the Vaganova Academy students is a sheer delight. The Pas d'action, with a solo for both Gamzatti and Solor previously in the celebrations scene in Act 2 in the Soviet production, has now been rightfully restored in the Act 4 wedding scene. Gamzatti's solo now has choreography by Pyotr Gusev in 1947 in Petipa's style, while Solor's variation by Chabukiani has inexplicably been retained.

Diana Vishneva and Andrian Fadeyev in La Bayadere
Photograph by Natasha Razina ©

The opening night's Nikiya was Diana Vishneva. Vishneva was ravishingly beautiful and touching in the first two acts. In the Shades scene she was sublime, dancing with a stylistic purity as well as a dazzling virtuosity. (I wish however that she had danced the coda in Petipa's choreography instead of in the Soviet version.) She was ideally matched with Andrian Fadeyev who was a noble Solor. Fadeyev danced eloquently and his acting was heartfelt. In his solo in the Shades scene, his virtuosity was breathtaking; his 'manege' of double assembles en tournant was impeccable.

Elvira Tarasova was compelling as Gamzatti, and her fouettes in the last act were impressive. Irina Golub was superb in the first Shades solo, she covered a long distance on the stage in her diagonal of 'releve' in arabesques at the end which was as solid as a rock.

In the second cast the leading roles were taken by Daria Pavlenko and the Bolshoi star Nikolai Tsiskaridze. Pavlenko, who actually danced the premiere in St. Petersburg last year, was lacklustre. She was monotonously severe and hard-edged throughout the four acts with no tenderness at all to evoke one's sympathy. Her technique in the Shades scene was more conventional and lacked flair compared to Vishenva. Tsiskaridze, who had plenty of charisma, wasn't on his best technical form that night; his landings after his jumps were heavy.

I also saw a performance of Alexei Ratmansky's ballet "Cinderella" which I reviewed in last year's festival. The ballet was weak in the ensemble scenes which are quite dull. The best parts of Ratmansky's choreography are the several pas de deux, which were danced with rich emotional resonance by Natalia Sologub, whose heart- touching performance in the title role surpassed her performance last year. Her Prince was the up-and-coming soloist Andrei Merkuriev who had lots of charm. He was spectacular in his solos which were full of big jumps.

Natalia Sologub in Cinderella
Photograph by Natasha Razina ©

Some parts of this ballet are original and of interest. In the Prince's journey round the world in search of Cinderella in the final act, there is an allusive dance for an ensemble of male dancers led by Islom Baimuradov, to whom the Prince unexpectedly offers the shoe to try at the end. This is preceded by a female dance which has lesbian overtones. Ratmansky has reversed the sex elsewhere in the ballet too; the four seasons in the first act are danced by male soloists instead of female as in most productions.

The last part is quite moving. After Cinderella has accidentally dropped her shoe from the balcony, the Prince runs up the staircase to join her, but she runs down the other staircase, thus missing each other temporarily.

The good news is that the new/old "La Bayadere" will be seen in the UK twice in the months ahead, during the Kirov's tour to Manchester in late April as well as their Covent Garden season this summer.