RB 'Bayadere' reviews Acosta in reviews Rojo in reviews Nunez in reviews recent RB reviews more Diandri reviews

Cast:
Tamara Rojo - Carlos Acosta - Marianela Nunez
Bramin - Alastair Marriott
Rajah - Christopher Saunders
Magdaveya - Jonathan Howells
Lead d'jampe - Francesca Filpi & Vanessa Palmer
Pas d'action - Gemma Bond, Laura Morera, Natasha Oughtred, Christina Salerno Deirdre Chapman, Lauren Cuthbertson, Isabel McMeekan, Laura McCulloch David Makhateli & Edward Watson
Shades - Mara Galeazzi, Deirdre Chapman & Jaimie Tapper
Bronze Idol - Yohei Sasaki

The first thing that struck me very quickly about the first act was the absolutely crystal clear mime from Carlos Acosta & the other leads. He has obviously gained hugely in confidence & ability from his stagework this summer & dare I say it from the tour to Russia. Jonathan Howells & Alastair Marrioot responded beautifully & made it extremely easy to follow the machinations.

It was interesting to see Tamara Rojo do Nikiya, to be fair I don't think its one of her better roles as the choreography certainly in the first act just doesn't seem to suit her physique. Nevertheless she brings quite unusual intensity to the part, you can she she clearly loves Solor & why she is driven to almost stab Gamzatti in the 2nd scene.

The second scene went at a quick pace introducing Gamzatti as the woman to which the Rajah plans to marry his best warrior off to. The D'jambe dance was generally good, no-one tied themselves up in knots & it looked better rehearsed than I've seen it in other revivals. Solor seemed upset to have to marry Gamzatti until he met her & for a great warrior I always find it surprising how spineless he is for putting his foot down & refusing to marry the rich bitch, but I guess if he did, we wouldn't have a ballet). The scene between the two rivals was tense & dramatic & its clear at that point that its all going to end in tears.

Scene 3 in the garden was for me the highlight of this act. The dancing was beautiful & again brilliantly rehearsed, I've never seen the pas de action done better than it was on friday (& I must have seen this ballet at least 10 times). I think the ladies featured on this first cast in these parts are the ones we're going to be seeing a lot more of this season (along with the shades). I particularly thought the ladies epaulement looked clearer & more pleasing than its done for a long time & the section as a whole was done with confidence & panache.

My overall impression of the first act was thast it was pacey, the conductor Valery Ovsyanikov kept everything brisk & moving which the dancers seemed to enjoy & which later made a strong contrast to the Shades scene. However I have a big grip with John Read's lighting in several scenes of the ballet which is too dark & the use of spotlights is fine as long as they keep up with the movement of the dancers around the stage (which in one scene they seemed to be trailing after Acosta).

Friday nights Shades scene went well. I spotted maybe 2 wobbly arabesques down the ramp and couple of not very secure balances during the centre section, but apart from that it was impressive & the shades were clear and appreciated by the audience. I really enjoyed the main pas de deux between Acosta & Rojo & I think they are well suited as partners & bring out the best in each other. I love that section with the floaty ribbon & poor old Solor looked gutted when he woke up from his trip to find himself being prepared for his wedding. The shades scene got huge applause, but that extra scene is a bit of an anti-climax & I momentarily wished it could be cut so the act ends on the shades.

Act 3 opened with a typically well judged Bronze idol from Yohei Sasaki, he strikes me as a particularly tasteful dancer, good technique and yet he's never brash or showy. We then got the wedding of Gamzatti dancing her little heart out in that lovely red costume & almost getting her mitts on Solor before Nikiya appears to interrupt proceedings & steal Solor away & bring the temple crashing down. I felt this scene was again underlit, we know its going to end horribly, but that temple is so badly lit from the start its dreadful. The destruction of the temple went without a hitch & moved quickly to the apotheosis where Nikiya & Solor are reunited for eternity.

In sum, I think its a very strong opening to the season, the company looked more confident & danced better than you usually get at a first night. Hopefully this is a sign of further riches to come in the season, but I was also pleased to see that this run of Bayaderes are dedicated to John Lanchbery. Incidentally the coaches for the principals were Alexander Agadzhanov, Lesley Collier, Donald MacLeary & Christopher Saunders.