The repertoire of the Perm opera and ballet theatre will be increased by one more cult ballet. In the year of the 200^th anniversary of Marius Petipa’s birth the theatre stages one of the most famous works of the master – the ballet “La bayadère”. For the first time in Perm this performance will be presented in the canonic version. The principal ballet master of the theatre Alexey Miroshnichenko and the stage team will recreate the ballet that won main ballet stages of the world and figured in history as an example of Russian classic ballet.

A vibrant story about love, faith and jealousy – the ballet “La bayadère” to the music by Ludwig Minkus – is one of masterpieces of the choreographer Marius Petipa. Leading ballet theatres consider it as an affair of honor to have this performance as a part of repertoire. In Perm it hasn’t been staged so far. Though this name appeared on a theatre’s poster. In the end of the 1950s the fragments of the ballet together with authors’ acts were performed on the stage of the Palace of culture named after Soldatov where Perm troupe gave performances during the reconstruction of the theatre building. But that was not the performance all world knows as “La bayadère” by Marius Petipa. One of the oldest ballets, premiered in 1877 on the stage of Bolshoi theatre in Saint Petersburg, will be performed for the first time in Perm in the academic version.

Aleksey Miroshnichenko chose the canonic edition by Vladimir Ponomarev and Vakhtang Chabukiani who recreated the original choreography of Petipa in 1941 as a basis of the performance and added separate dances composed later by Konstantin Sergeyev and Nikolay Zubkovsky. This very version became a part of classical heritage of Russian choreography.

Aleksey Miroshnichenko, the principal ballet master of the Perm opera and ballet theatre:
— I had compared different editions which actually are not so various and chose the version of Ponomarev – Chabukiani. First I wanted to make some amendments but the more I dove into the material the more I respected these authors and their work. I think this version is the closest to the text by Petipa in edition of 1900 year. It is the academic version that fully renders the idea and esthetics of the late romanticism of Petipa. It is a wonderful ballet, a real masterpiece that will influence generations of artists and spectators. So I believe this is a historical event for Perm.

The basis of the plot of “La bayadère” is a story of a temple dancer Nikiya and a warrior Solor that turned out as a tragedy caused by jealous High Brahmin and raja’s daughter Gamzatti. On the premiere show on the 14^th of December the main parts will be performed by the prima-ballerina of the Perm opera and ballet theatre and the Royal ballet in Covent Garden Natalia Osipova, the prima-ballerina of the Bolshoi theatre Maria Aleksandrova and the premier of the Bolshoi Aleksandr Lantratov. On the 15^th of December the performers are the star of the Perm troupe Polina Buldakova and the young artists that had a great debut this season: Gabriel Lopes and Bulgan Rentsendorzh. On the 16^th of December the audience will see again Maria Aleksandova, this time as Nikiya. On the 17^th of December Nikiya will be performed by Daria Tikhonova who is back on stage after the break. The part of Gamzatti will be performed by the ballerina of the Perm theatre Albina Rangulova; Solor – the premier of the theatre Kirill Makurin.

Alexey Miroshnichenko, the principal ballet master of the Perm opera and ballet theatre:
— This performance requires involvement of all dancers. Notably that there are both classical and character parts, also demicharacter and acting parts. So every artist can expose the best way. We also involve students of the Perm ballet school and what is perhaps for the first time in the history of this ballet – 50 students from India will perform as statists.

The visual side of the performance is created by frequent coauthors of Alexey Miroshnichenko. The stage designer Aliona Pikalova will recreate esthetics of Hindu temple art on stage; the costume designer Tatiana Noginova will reconstruct original costumes of Petipa’s performance by sketches of the Imperial theatre designer Evgeniy Ponomarev.

The ballet “La bayadère” will be included in the repertoire of the Perm opera and ballet theatre. After the premieres it will be performed in January 2019.