Dance Review by Jack Anderson

Dancegoers were held spellbound by a 19th-century tale of love, duty, revenge and mysticism when American Ballet Theater once again presented La Bayadere on Saturday night at the Metropolitan Opera House...

...Julio Bocca as Solor, the warrior torn between the woman he loves and the woman he is expected to marry..., indicated Solor’s hotblooded nature... His dancing was always impetuous and passionate. He hurtled in his leaps and his turns were speedy and razor - sharp.

Nina Ananiashvili portrayed Nikiya, Solor’s beloved. The fluidity of her upper body in the first act became a sign of Nikiya’s sweetness. But when she returned as a specter in the Kingdom of the Shades scene, her elegance and purity of line made her ethereal.

Paloma Herrera was Gamzatti, the woman Solor must marry. She looked like a polite aristocratic young lady in her first scenes, then gradually turned more imposing as she realized she had a romantic rival. But her dancing and miming never grew imperious enough to make her the formidable presence Gamzatti ought to be.

In the solo for a Bronze Idol, Joaquin De Luz was a high and precise jumper. Yet as a reminder that this character is really a graven image, he took care when he landed to make his poses appear to be carved out of space.

Among the cast’s truly heroic presences were the women who danced the ghosts in the Kingdom of the Shades scene. They performed their beautiful but extremely demanding entrance ensemble with remarkable exactitude.