La Bayadère
Ludwig Minkus / Michal Štípa
La Bayadère
A love story in a grand romantic ballet set in the Orient, with captivating music and dazzling virtuosity
This powerful drama of classical ballet—one of the masterpieces of choreographer Marius Petipa, first premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre in St. Petersburg in 1877—continues to enchant audiences worldwide. Its story of the temple dancer, the bayadère Nikiya, set in ancient India, reflects the 19th-century fascination with distant lands and oriental motifs in dance as well as in other arts.
Inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s ballad The God and the Bayadère, the ballet tells the tale of Nikiya and the warrior Solor, whose love is thwarted by the wrath of the powerful Rajah, since his daughter Gamzatti is destined to marry Solor. Nikiya dies from a snake bite, and their unfulfilled love is reunited only in the realm of heavenly spirits.
Ludwig Minkus’s melodic score is considered his greatest achievement, and the “Kingdom of the Shades” scene ranks among the most famous moments in all of romantic ballet. With splendid staging and virtuosic performances, La Bayadère will be presented on the Plzeň stage for the very first time.
