DVD + Blu-Ray:
Minkus: La Bayadère

Nacho Duato reinvents this iconic ballet, where classical dance meets the exoticism of the Maharajas’ India, for the Mikhailovsky Ballet.

Of Ancient India, composer Ludwig Minkus made in his La Bayadère the shiny background of the tragic love story between a priestess and a warrior, unable to get together in this world or in the next.

For this new production with the Mikhailovsky Ballet, of which he is the artistic director, Spanish choreographer Nacho Duato created a new version extremely respectful of Marius Petipa’s original, preserving the traditional synopsis and the great coups de théâtre of the libretto, and keeping the original choreography for the most famous scenes. But at the same time, he liberates the ballet from the weight of its own anachronism, removes the episodes of pointless pantomime, and relocates it in a extravagant, lavish and colourful set.

Before working on La Bayadère, Duato had already tackled some of the great classics of the Russian classical ballet school: his original versions of Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, both commissionned by the Mikhailovsky, have since then toured in the whole world and were met with tremendous success – from Milan and Berlin to Novossibirsk. For this new project, he surrounds himself with the excellent Principals Angelina Vorontsova and Victor Lebedev, but also with Andrea Laššáková, outstanding in the role of Gamzatti.

Special features: Interviews with Nacho Duato (choreographer) and Vladimir Kekhman (artistic director of the Mikhailovsky Theater).

Genre Ballet
Recording location Mikhailovsky Theater, Saint Petersburg
Recording date November 2019
Duration 98 min. (ballet) + 12 min. (bonus)
Video format Colour, 16/9, NTSC
Audio format PCM 2.0, Dolby Digital 5.1 (DVD) / DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 (Blu-ray)
TV Director Andy Sommer
Composer Ludwig Minkus
Conductor Pavel Sorokin
Orchestra / Band Orchestra of the Mikhailovsky Theater
Dance Company Mikhailovsky Ballet
Choreography by Nacho Duato
Costumes Angelina Atlagić
Soloist Angelina Vorontsova (Nikiya)
Soloist Victor Lebedev (Solor)
Soloist Sergey Strelkov (Great Brahmin)
Soloist Andrea Laššáková (Gamzatti)
Distribution homevideo / DVD Bel Air Classiques / Naxos Distribution