Amal Choucri Catta witnesses the decisive hand of fate La Bayadere ballet by Leon Minkus, presented by Bashkir State Opera and Ballet Theatre, with Cairo Opera Orchestra conductor Vladimir Rylov. Venue: Main Hall COH, 13, 14, 15 Jan, 8pm; Sayed Darwish Theatre, Alexandria, 17 & 18 Jan, 8pm Palace and temple walls did not come tumbling down on Cairo Opera's Main Stage, bringing Leon Minkus's La Bayadere to a dramatic end: they just vanished in the wings while peaks of the Himalayas were projected onto the backdrop. Presented by the Bashkir State Opera and Ballet Theatre, Minkus's three-act ballet graced the Main Hall for three nights before leaving for two additional performances at Sayed Darwish Theatre, Alexandria. The Russian Bashkir Company is no newcomer to Egypt, having already performed Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake on Cairo's Main Stage in October 2003, with two nights of gala concerts introducing Serguey Rachmaninov's one-act opera Aleko conducted by Alexei Lyudmilin. This time, however, Bashkir spectacles were limited to a total of five colourful ballet performances, with Cairo Opera's Orchestra under the excellent baton of Vladimir Rylov. Author of the celebrated ballet Don Quixote, Leon Minkus was born in Vienna in 1826. Emigrating to Russia at an early age, he spent a number of years as court composer at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, before leaving for Saint-Petersburg, where he remained from 1872 to 1875, and retired in 1891. He returned to Vienna to spend the last 16 years of his life before dying of pneumonia in 1917. Minkus wrote approximately 20 ballets, 16 of which for Marius Petipa, then a rising young choreographer in Saint-Petersburg, perfecting his craft under the great master Jules Perrot. The birth of La Bayadere goes back to the year 1839, when a company of authentic Bayaderes -- dancing girls of the East Indies -- visited Europe to the joy of some Romantics such as the French author and poet Theophile Gautier, who was entranced by the principal dancer, Amani. Gautier penned some of his most inspired pages in describing her, and years later was to record the mournful fact that she had hung herself in a fit of depression in fog-bound London. The lure of India's lavish palaces, ancient temples and steaming jungles remained with him and, in 1858, he wrote a ballet for the Paris Opera entitled Sacuntala, based on the classic Sanskrit drama by Kalidasa, and extravagantly staged by Lucien Petipa. When Marius, Lucien's younger brother, was appointed ballet master of the Russian Imperial Theatres two decades later, he recalled his brother's Sacuntala, deciding to create a similar plot for a full-evening ballet. Thus La Bayadere came into being and was premiered at Saint Petersburg's Maryinksy Theatre in February 1977, with over 230 dancers. Solor, the hero, made an impressive appearance on the back of and elephant and, in Act Three, the palace walls came tumbling down on stage, while Nikia, the heroine, went flying into blue skies. The most important and most striking scene of the entire ballet, as planned by Marius Petipa, was Solor's dream in the third act, when spectres come out of the nether- world in one of the most breathtaking formations ever devised in classical ballet: 32 ballerinas, in long white tutus, perform a seemingly endless series of repeated arabesques penchées, appearing with impressive solemnity in a slow procession, arms outstretched and descending, sur pointes, on one leg. Especially for the first ballerinas, this is one of the most difficult ballet sequences, as the arabesques penchées must be executed emerging from an inclined catwalk, until all 32 spectres are on stage. It provides the dancers, however, with an opportunity to showcase their pointe technique, though a number of ballet ensembles shun the effort, preferring a simpler and easier choreography for this scene. This was the case for the Bashkir Ensemble: they had only 24 dancers emerging from the city of the dead and leaving the catwalk in a somewhat light formation of simple steps. The Bashkir conception was, nevertheless, extremely colourful in its captivating sets and enchanting costumes, enhanced by lovely solo performances and marvelous pas-de-deux, de- trois, and de-quatre. The entire spectacle sparkled with elegance and fluidity, granting the audience brilliant compositions by the corps de ballet. It must be said, however, that Act One came on with an overdose of mime, while dances were mainly reserved for Nikia, the Bayadere, and Solor, the young warrior, with brief dancing sequences by the temple dancers and the Fakirs celebrating the fire festival. As the story goes, Nikia and Solor are lovers who have exchanged vows; but the Grand Brahmin, the temple's high priest, who wants the Bayadere for himself, decides to punish the lovers. Tall and impressive in his ample red-and-gold attire, he seems surrounded by an aura of evil, while Nikia and Solor, in their simple white costumes, exude sensations of blissful felicity. In Scene Two, a lavishly clad Rajah Dugmanta happily informs his daughter Gamzatti that she is to be wed to Solor shortly. His mood turns sour when the Grand Brahmin informs him of the warrior's involvement with the Bayadere. Furious, he decides that Nikia must die. The Grand Brahmin is devastated: this is certainly not what he had planned, and he begs Rajah to spare her life, but Dugmanta is adamant. Nikia and Gamzatti are two beautiful young ladies, though the latter is a proud princess in love, who suddenly discovers that she has a rival. She summons Nikia to the palace, asks her to leave Solor, offers her jewels and riches, which the Bayadere refuses before threatening her with a dagger; the Rajah's daughter decides Nikia must die. The scene is bathed in light and colour and splendidly performed. Act Two is a luxurious feast at the palace with a number of dancers and ballerinas appearing in multi-coloured costumes, pantaloons, short tutus and turbans. The Bayadere is a gorgeous dancer, though sad and forlorn and well aware of the doom that awaits her. She is offered a basket of flowers hiding a serpent that stings her to death. The Rajah orders the wedding ceremony to be hastened and, as the Grand Brahmin joins the hands of Solor and Gamzatti, a violent earthquake destroys the palace, finally uniting Solor with his beloved Nikia in a fascinating pas-de-deux leading to the nether-world.
