There are 24 glistening reasons to run to see Pennsylvania Ballet’s new production of La Bayadere which premiered Thursday evening: Shades 1 through 24 were pristine perfect from the ends of their fingers to the ends of their toes and were the highlight of Angel Corella’s dazzling new production of Petipa’s masterpiece. We will deem this La Bayadere the Acela version because of the speed it attains while skipping certain stops along the way. Like so many classical productions today, it has been custom-fit for its local audience rather than trying to shoehorn the audience into a one-size fits all production.
Corella made much effort to ameliorate what some believe to be harmful stereotypes and caricatures built into Petipa’s original production. But as he has explained frequently, La Bayadere is not a representation of India or Indian culture. It is Petipa’s fantastical storybook vision of a place that never really existed. Solor and Nikiya love each other; someone else loves each of them; there’s a plot to break them up; a snake jumps out of a flower basket to bite Nikiya who then dies; Solor smokes opium and hallucinates; he ultimately takes poison to die and is reunited with Nikiya in the afterlife. That last part was Corella’s idea, not Petipa’s. There’s no earthquake in this production which concludes with the famous Kingdom of the Shades.
The costumes and scenery, originally by Sergiv Spevyakin for Boston Ballet, include an array of rich browns, blues, reds, and an especially appealing yellow/gold for Gamzatti’s attire. Our Gamzatti for the evening, Mayara Pineiro, was more sunny and vibrant than entitled. She delivered spectacular dancing including a set of Italian fouettes each of which was a Xerox copy of the one before it. Her argument with Nikiya and the effort to buy her off with jewelry could have been a little more convincing.
Nikiya was performed by Oksana Maslova, whose deep, deep cambre to the back beautifully conveyed Nikya’s yearning for Solor. Her vulnerability and passionate longing left a profound impression. Her unusual flexibility also allowed for stunning arabesques and developpes. Sometimes those developpes with the right leg became so pronounced in height with hip displacement that the side of the tutu actually started to invert. However, the more moderate developpes with the left leg were textbook perfect with breathtaking beauty in form. Much of her work in the the scarf pas de deux was admirable although the pirouettes with the scarf and the pirouettes to arabesque in the variation had some uncertainty.
Zechang Liang was a spectacular Solor in the Kingdom of the Shades. Such height and clarity in cabrioles one rarely sees. The b e a t s had so much space and time between them that they looked like they were in slow motion. His theatrical output in this act was also superb. One didn’t just see it à terre; the lights caught his face and eyes filled with emotion as he was in the air. Act I wasn’t as depth-filled - Liang’s claim that he slayed the tiger was not particularly convincing. This doesn’t require chest-beating, but the audience has to get the point about Solor's bravery.
Albert Gordon had the toughest assignment of the night as the Bronze Idol. He was stepping into the shoes of La Bayadere’s greatest interpreter. Corella has made it a point since taking over Pennsylvania Ballet to say that the dancers should not try to do everything his way or to be him. Unfortunately, that’s precisely and exactly what the audience will always want — especially in this role. Balletomanes have memories like elephants. We’ve got to praise Gordon for delivering a sensational performance on this premiere night under a lot of pressure. Velocity, clarity, power, and detailed characterization were all there. Not many of Corella’s colleagues ever articulated the arms, hands, and fingers on the fast chaine turns the way he did, but this young protégé made them crystal clear. His focus was stone cold still while the rest of him was on fire. We observed Corella give him the correction on eye use at the recent Guggenheim presentation, and it made a world of difference on stage. Bravo to this Bronze Idol!
The Three Shades,
Yuka Iseda, Nayara Lopes, and
Thays Golz were all lovely, but Golz’s performance in the third variation was a real beauty. Such control, such respect for form, such gorgeous limbs, such serenity - wow.
The orchestra sounded fine playing the music as arranged by Lars Payne, but there were times when John Lanchbery’s passionate treatment of the score was missed. The dancers and the conductor have finally figured out how to coordinate the ends of phrases, all of which worked smoothly.
The H.H. Pump Bump Award, Louboutin's diamond-studded pump that is beautiful and tougher than nails, is bestowed upon the ladies of the Corps de Ballet for their peerless work in the Kingdom of the Shades.
