Product Details

• Actors: Minkus, Isabelle Guerin, Laurent Hilaire, Elisabeth Platel, Nureyev
• Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Kultur Video
• DVD Release Date: July 27, 2004
• Run Time: 133 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000294T5G
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,938 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Exotic and mysterious India serves as the backdrop to this story of doomed love between the warrior Solor and the bayadère, Nikiya, who is killed by her jealous rival, Gamzatti. Breathtaking sets and costumes are designed by Ezio Frigerio and Franca Squarciapino in this exceptional production, recorded at the Palais Garnier in Paris. Direction and choreography in this fully restored version of Petipa's original ballet are by Rudolf Nureyev. Stars Isabelle Guérin, Laurent Hilaire, and Élisabeth Platel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

85 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent version of this classical ballet, September 13, 2004

By 

Ivy Lin (NY NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Minkus - La Bayadere / Guerin, Hilaire, Platel, Paris Ballet (DVD)

This lavish video, out from the Paris Opera Ballet, provides an interesting contrast to the Royal Ballet video (which I also reviewed). Both versions have their considerable merits, and I would not be without either one.

1. The reconstructions. La Bayaderes original choreography was by Petipa, but much of it (including the original Final Act) has been lost. Natalia Makarova of the Royal Ballet video has chosen to reconstruct the third act (inserting such things as the Golden Idol dance there), and tighten the action in the entire ballet. She cuts character dances like the Indian dance and Negro dance. Rudolf Nureyev has chosen a different route. He's preserved more of the extant Petipa choreography, with the character dances. He's ignored the Final Act altogether, so the Paris Bayadere ends with the Shades act.
Both versions have their merits. Makarova's version gives the storyline some closure (Gamzatti and Solor's wedding temple is destroyed by the gods and Nikya and Solor are reunited in the otherworld). On the other hand, she streamlines the dances quite a bit. Nureyev's version is probably truer to Petipa's choreography. However, all the character dances in Act 1, Scene 3 make the ballet seem more old-fashioned.

2. Production values.
In this, the Paris Ballet wins hands-down. The sets are lavish, the costumes have a more authentic Indian feel to them, and the camera work is more interesting, shooting dancers from different angles. However the Paris Ballet also saddles the women with unattractive wigs in the opening scenes, and the dark navy blue dresses do not look good in dim ballet lighting. The Royal Ballet uses the tried-and-true stage pan/close up method, but their costumes are in soft flattering colors that give the ballerinas a feminine, graceful look.

3. Corps dancing.
While the Royal Ballet corps is not bad, the Paris corps is truly eery in its perfection. All the corps members seem to have similar in height, build and even appearance. You can also see the benefits of the famously demanding Paris Ballet schooling (even for ballet standards). Their corps is amazing. In the Shades scene, all the legs are raised to the same angle, the descent of the shades is in perfectly timed intervals, they lean backwards at the same angle. The corps in all their dances are always symetrically spaced across the stage to form perfect lines. The dancers all have impeccable form, and you can see this in the dance variations, when poor form from one ballerina can really stick out like a sore thumb. This does not happen ANYWHERE in the Paris Ballet video.

4. Solo performances.
This is the one area where the Royal Ballet clearly has the edge. It's not that Isabelle Guerin and Elisabeth Platel are bad (far from it!), just that Altynai Asylmuratova and Darcey Bussell are truly unforgettable in the Royal Ballet. I've been very lucky in my Nikyas -- I've seen both Alina Cojacaru (enchanting) and Svetlana Zakharova live, but Altynai Asylmuratova (of the Kirov) is the best. She brings this combination of exotic beauty and fragility to the role. Russian Vaganova training is a real benefit for Nikya -- their fluid, flexible use of their backs and arms is a strength in a role that relies so much on upper body work. The effect is simply enchanting.
In contrast, Isabelle Guerin, with her crystal-clean technique and somewhat austere style fails to enchant in the same way. For instance, in the Gamzatti/Nikya scene Asylmuratova expresses so much with a single wave of the hand. I felt that Guerin failed to convey Nikya's desperation and pathos as convincingly. Shes a wonderful dancer, but Asylmuratova is unforgettable. In the Shades scene Guerin also doesn't have the otherworldly, haunted ghost, pathetic quality of Asylmuratova.
Elisabeth Platel and Darcey Bussell are both excellent, athletic ballerinas. But Darcey Bussell's cool, regal, stiff-backed elegance contrasts so well with Asylmuratova's Nikya. Platel is icier; Bussell haughtier. It's a tossup.
I prefer Laurent Hilaire's more youthful, athletic Solor in the Paris Bayadere. Irek Mukhamedov is very impressive in other videos (Mayerling, for example) but he's surprisingly bland as Solor.

Overall impressions: if you love Bayadere you have to get both dvd's. In some ways they complement each other -- one's weaknesses are the other's strengths.

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite, July 1, 2004

By 

"michaelfraydon" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Minkus - La Bayadere / Guerin, Hilaire, Platel, Paris Ballet (DVD)

This production by Nureyev is splendid! it is probably the best production of this ballet you will ever own! In it we are previlaged to witness two of the greatest stars of the world of ballet. Miss Elisabeth Platel in the role of Gamzatti and Miss Isabelle Guerin in the role of Nikia. Unfortunately they have both since retired from the Paris Opera, all the more reason to buy this dvd and cherish it! Miss Platel is the ultimate Gamzatti but than she is a superb ballerina of taste and refinment rarely seen. Her portrayel of Gamzatti is so elegant as befitting the daughter of a prince on the eve of her bethothal to Solor, danced by the very masculine Laurent Hilaire who was perfectly suited for the role of the warrier, that you almost forget her evil intentions towards Nykia and identify with her longing for this match to take place. She is after all inlove with Solor and will stop at nothing to secure her own happiness. Miss Platel is Dazzling! Her Port de bras is of rare quality and unmatched by anyone so far. Her upper body moves with such musicality that one is almost able to hear the music through it.
Miss Guerin is a ballerina of rare authenticity and technical prowess. She sparkles! Her entrance in the third act kingdom of the shades is marked by a pose on stage with one arm lifted and her eyes gazing towards her fingertips. This is a moment of greatness it summerises for me the essence of ballet. She is mesmerising by force of her presence without having to blink an eye! Miss Guerin need but whisper whilst other have to shout.
Mr. Hilaire is a captivating warrier. Masculine to the point of being sexy. This is well suited to the oriental theme of this ballet. His leaps are powerful and his presence forceful. His partnering both of miss Platel and of Miss Guerin is commendable.
The corps de ballet is "de grand rigueur" seldom Have I seen such perfect execution of the third act's kingdom of the shades.
The tutus in the paris opera are of perfect diameter and show off the lines of the ballerinas to the fullest. One could not expect any less from the french. Chapeau!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just Superb, December 14, 2006

By 

Balletomane - See all my reviews

This review is from: Minkus - La Bayadere / Guerin, Hilaire, Platel, Paris Ballet (DVD)

It is difficult to understand how other reviewers can have reservations about this performance. The production values are excellent and the dancing is exceptional - sets,costumes and the all-important lighting contribute to a stunning dvd with colour and spectacle and to compare it to the Royal Ballet version is simply pointless.
Asylmuratova looks edgy and unsure in the RB and lacks chemistry with Mukhamedov, who was oddly not his (often) brilliant self, while Dowell hammed the High Brahmin role beyond credibility. Darcy Bussell is a redeeming pleasure but all are saddled with an atmosphere of shabbiness in costumes and sets, while the stage of the ROH looks quite tatty. The contrast is even more marked with the timing of the corps de ballet which is an absolute joy with the Paris Opera company (a result which takes more than a taped stage to achieve) and for anyone considering choosing between the two dvds - there's no contest. This is the one and a wonderful legacy it is from Nureyev.