Customer Reviews

Minkus - La Bayadere / Guerin, Hilaire, Platel, Paris Ballet

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

The Paris Opera Corps is the best,I just keep asking myself if they are human, they are like clones.
After 5 Bayaredes, this is still the best choice, even if Isabelle Guerin is a little cold faced, (after all, french dancers are not passionate, aren't they?) or perhaps because perfection is cold.
The coreography from Nureyev is beautiful,very dinamic, the sets and costumes are sumptuous, stunning Etoiles and soloist,
Elizabeth Platel is the perfect balance technique and artistry.
This is the glory of BALLET

I always liked ballet since childhood but this one really made me totally hooked. Isabelle Guerin is absolutely beautiful and dances with all the emotions that Nykiya would be feeling. I never liked male ballet dancers thinking they are half-women, until I saw Laurent Hilair in Solar's role and it totally changed my view. I felt like I was wasting my entire life disliking like them. Maybe it is because Hilair is so handsome that he was not wearing excess make-up like the kind I saw in Russian ballet performance but his jump is so high, turns so fast that I literally could not close my mouth after the first "Wow!. I think I am going to take this DVD into my casket when I die.

This is superbly choreographed, superbly danced and superbly produced. It is a classical ballet in the strict sense. The highlights for me:
1. As an Indian to have an Indian theme, gorgeous Indian consumes and a superb set made it very enjoyable.
2. The story is intense. The dancing is correspondingly very passionate and for this the music would have to be very appropriate and it is.
3. The technical quality of the dancing is of very high order for dancers as individuals and as a group.
4. There are so many special beautiful dances in the DVD: All of Nikya's (played by Isabel Guerrin)dances, the dances in the palace (very notable is the dance by the golden idol, just extraordinary, it was like the God Indra of the Indian Rig Veda come down to earth to dance), and of course last but not the least the Hades.
5. The video production: Wow, rarely is it this good. The lighting is perfect, the set and colors are perfect, the quality of the DVD (compression, resolution, etc) are very good. The camera angle is especially good being almost just above floor level and seems to travel with the dancers across the stage. The floor itself is slightly shiny and nicely reflects the dancers giving a salutory effect. A minor complaint is that the recorded volume level is low so the volume level on your amplifier needs to be turned up to get a reasonable output.
This will be a classic in your collection. This is one of POB's best.

I now have two copies of this ballet, this copy by the Paris Opera Ballet and the other by the Kirov Ballet......Minkus - La Bayadere / Kirov Theatre....... Which is best? They are both so good that for the common man, there is very little difference. The POB version was filmed in HI-DEF which gives a very good picture quality, although the DVD is not HI-DEF. (PS, This version is now available in BluRay......Minkus: La Bayadere [Blu-ray]).... Color, lighting, sets are superb in both productions. Run time on this copy is 135 minutes, and the Kirov version is 130 minutes. The extra time on the POB version may have been the bonus segment on Nureyev.

There was one little blurb in the Kirov version during the closing of the entrance of the Shades segment, where the ballerina who had just completed 38 beautiful Arabesque movements (she was the first to enter) nearly fell when her knee buckled slightly. A couple of others lost their balance too. That sort of thing does not upset me much, but just shows that they are human. Which one of us never makes a mistake? I loved the Kirov corps even with the minor boo-boo.

There was no such blurb in the POB version, as their Shades appeared to be perfect. Their formations were magnificent, however they did use a marked stage to help with their alignment. One reviewer commented on the smiles on the faces of the three soloists, so if a smile on the face of a Shade is going to rankle you, better not buy this one. It did not bother me at all. In fact after reading his complaint, it made me love them even more. Some folks are way yonder too critical in their reviews, and I try to make it a point to remind you that you should NOT believe everything you read in these reviews.

I do wish there was a better ending for La Bayadere, because it seems to be unfinished. After all, there has been a murder committed, and to end the ballet with the Shades Scene seems to say that it's OK to kill Nikia.
Someone says there is a fourth act showing the destruction of the temple during the wedding of Solor and Gamzatti, by the ghost of Nikia. It would be interesting to hear the music for the fourth act.

Nuryev has gone all out in this production! The lead dancer is amazingly turned-out - great technique. Male lead has good feet. Corps...Wow! Paris Opera Ballet dancers are understated compare to American Ballet Theatre. They have a passion that is a little veiled, but after a few viewings you see that it is just as strong and present - just in a different way, a good way. It is true ballet. Your money will be well spent on this DVD! It is worth every cent!

I agree the production is gorgeous. But...

The endless flaws in the amateur videography are egregious, and I'm shocked that no previous reviewer noticed these. The angles are terrible ranging from a low angle center "master shot" camera position and a very high angle, and distant center camera position of the entire stage that is akin to having bought the worst seat in the house in the back of the highest balcony. The side angles are somewhat better. But, the editing follows no rhyme or reason the director just cuts from camera to camera for hell of it. Too many of the cuts are not motivated.

The closer center camera position with its low angle gives a marvelous look up Gazmatti's tutu, making her look bigger than she should. The Golden Idol ends his variation with a double tour, shot from the aforementioned worst-seat-in-the-house-nosebleed-section of the balcony. I wanted to see him dance -- not see how big the Paris Opera stage is. He looks like a Golden Ant. Cutaways to close-ups of corps girls' feet toward the end of soloists' variations in the Kingdom of the Shades are not "artistic" -- they are wretched. We want to see the soloists, not the corps girls' feet. Or, at least, I did. Cutaways to Gazmatti's facial reactions while she's seated in Act II during a variation by Nikiya is inexcusable. Again, I want to see Nikiya dancing, not how fabulous Gazmatti is acting. And this is by no means a complete catalog of the bad videography.

The costumes and the sets are glorious. The dancing is, by and large, very good, though the technique for everyone but Nikiya is merely very good which is not enough anymore. Unfortunately, in this day and age, technique needs to match artistry, sets and costumes. Only Nikiya's technique is really impressive. Solor's jumps are great and his ballon is very impressive, but the day that a triple pirouette was adequate for a premier danseur is about twenty years out of date.

But all these choreographic and technical dancing points are minor complaints and I could accept the dancing, the ballet, and the production quite easily if it hadn't been edited with pinking shears by a chimpanzee. It is the videography that is awful, awful, awful, and most infuriating to watch. If you don't know about good ballet videography, then my comments will be lost on you. But you need to compare this version with anything that American Ballet Theatre or "Dance in America" has done in the last fifteen years. They have learned how to video ballet.

Others have established that this DVD is a winner. But I didn't see anyone mention the "Dancer's Dream" documentary on the making of this ballet. It's precious-- especially for those like me who have never had ballet training. The interviews and rehearsals significantly increase one's enjoyment of the ballet itself.
A couple of reviewers, in comparing the Paris performance with the Royal Ballet performance, noted that Irek Mukhamedov seemed uninspired as Solor in London. My theory: he requires a manic role like Ivan the Terrible, Spartacus, or Mayerling to be at his best. Solor may be a "warrior," but he is a not-too-constant lover, not a fighter.