ABT'S LA BAYADERE, NYC, JUNE, 1996

«La Bayadere» by Ballet Theater, with a bit of sexiness

Natalia Makarova’s spectacular 1980 staging of «La Bayadere» for American Ballet Theater has seen many excellent principals but none as sexy as Nina Ananiashvili and Jose Manuel Carreno on Monday night. Don’t miss them when they dance tonight at the Metropolitan Opera House.

As a transitional work, the original 1877 «Bayadere», by Marius Petipa, bids farewell to early Romantic ballet and looks forward to the pure classical style of Petipa’s «Sleeping Beauty».

Ms. Ananiashvili’s magnificent achievement, perfectly understood by Mr. Carreno, was to imbue classical form with intensely Romantic content. Rarely have other dancers left such an emotional imprint on the ballet’s formal structures. This was especially true in the pure classicism of the «Kingdom of the Shades», in which the anti-hero seeks out the heroine’s ghost. There was no better way to introduce the first «Bayadere» of the season, with an outstandingly rehearsed corps in the «Shades» scene.

In the other acts, Ms. Ananiashvili gave new meaning to sensuality in dance. Her supple plastique extended from her arched back to her liquid arms, a silhouette that captured the 19th - century Orientalism of her character. As Nikiya, the Indian temple dancer betrayed by the warrior Solor, she loved and suffered with an intensity that could not have been imagined. When Mr. Carreno, as Solor, locked her in his embrace in the Soviet - style duet of Act I, both dancers exuded something beyond passion.

Mr. Carreno nonetheless is a passionate dancer. He does not have the explosive force of Julio Bocca, who will dance Solor this afternoon and tomorrow night. But he channels his fine technique into form and flow with a subtle power that has enormous depth. He executed double - assemble turns in Act II and his solo in Act I carried a consistent classical image. Ms. Ananiashvili, especially exotic in Act I, matched his brilliant acting. When Victor Barbee’s enraged priest made advances to her, she recoiled in melodramatic horror. But wondrously, she transformed herself from flesh and blood into an ideal in the «Shades» scene. Wearing a huge, stiff white tutu, dancing with her eyes cast down and accelerating her turns, she distilled Nikiya’s ghost to an exceptionally refined essence.

A contributor to this grand evening was Christine Dunham as Gamzatti, the Rajah’s daughter for whom Solor forsakes Nikiya. The betrothal scene is a pretext for classical dancing, which was executed poorly by every Gamzatti last year. Ms. Dunham restored a standard of excellence. Her cold princess, contrasted with Ms. Ananiashvili’s vulnerable innocent, showed off a solid technique, radiating a dazzling ballerina image.