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American Ballet TheatreMay 2007 New York, Metropolitan Opera House by Rachel Straus |
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La Bayadčre is “the most classical” and “most revealing” of ballets, said Martine van Hamel whose performance of Nikiya in 1987 was likened to “white heat” by the New York Times. Two years ago I interviewed and watched Van Hamel coach La Bayadčre to 12 participants from the New York International Ballet Competition. As the former American Ballet Theatre principal rehearsed the NYIBC dancers in the scarf scene from Act II, the ballet’s technical challenges hovered like a menacing cloud as the dancers quietly cursed the complicated coordination. The scene in question involves Solar, the male lead, hovering a 20-foot scarf above his head while the female lead dancing Nikiya holds on to the other end and makes multiple turns in arabesque. The scarf dance, said van Hamel, “is there to create a cloud.” It is the ultimate vision of earthly escape. But getting tangled in the scarf, let alone the ballet’s jewelry, beaded costumes and steps, is all too easy. On March 15, American Ballet Theatre’s Paloma Herrera danced Nikiya against Angel Corella’s Solar. When Herrera and Corella took hold of the gargantuan scarf and Herrera turned in arabesque, the material momentarily got stuck around her head. Like a pro, the Argentine-born dancer flicked it away before disaster struck. Though bungling this scene, the apex of Solar’s opium-induced fantasy about spending eternal life with Nikiya, isn’t great, such a momentary mishap is immediately excused if the dancers carry this 1877 ballet by Marius Petipa—revamped and vigorously watched over by Natalie Makarova— with a sexy coolness. Zest can be lost when a lead dancer’s approach to her role resembles the wafting of that white scarf. This was the case with Herrera.
Capitalizing on late 19th century Parisian’s craze for “the Orient,” Petipa’s Nikiya is more fantasy than faithful representation of an Indian temple dancer. Consequently, this liturgical dancer isn’t the type to forsake earthly pleasures. Nikiya is an instigator who refuses to be pushed aside by Gamzatti, a material girl with some great jewelry, who Solar has committed to marrying. In hopes of having Solar to herself Nikiya tries to kill Gamzatti. But on Tuesday night, when Herrera grabbed a knife and ran the entire length of the Metropolitan Opera House stage, attempting to thrust the knife’s blade into the back of Gillian Murphy, dancing Gamzatti, she looked like she was chasing butterflies. Never have I seen such a sweet murder scene or a killer with less of a chance of accomplishing her deed.
 Paloma Herrera and Angel Corella in La Bayadčre © Gene Schiavone
Other hallucinatory moments included Herman Cornejo’s perfect-pitch leaps in his role as the Bronze Idol. Cornejo jumped into the air, flashed his arms into a Shiva-like mudra and levitated. Maria Bystrova, the Russian-born corps dancers, was also marvelous. She danced in the Pas d’Action with her ear toward the music rather than just a leg toward the next step. Angela Corella’s expansive non-stop jumps seared the heart. Herrera’s dancing has the potential to do the same. If only she could move beyond lightweight acting and show Nikiya’s will for all its weight.
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