La Bayadere – Skorik/Kim/Matvienko – Mariinsky Theatre

La Bayadere, Oxana Skorik (Rus Оксана Скорик) as Nikiya, Kimin Kim as Solor, Anastasia Matvienko (Rus. Анастасия Матвиенко) as Gamzatti. Music by Ludwig Minkus; choreography by Marius Petipa, revised by Vladimir Ponomarev and Vakhtang Chabukiani with dances by Konstantin Sergeyev and Nikolay Zubovsky. Conductor Boris Gruzin. Shot 12.2.2016, Mariinsky Theatre historical stage.

Please see all galleries from 12.2.2016 La Bayadere by Skorik-Kim-Matvienko

 

 

Please see all galleries from 12.2.2016 La Bayadere by Skorik-Kim-Matvienko

Oksana Skorik (Rus. Оксана Скорик) is currently Prima Ballerina with Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg. She was born in Kharkov, Ukraine on April 20, 1989. It was decided by her mother that she was going to be a ballet dancer ever since she was born, and when Oksana became 5 years old, her mother took her to Kharkov choreographic school. At age of 12 Perm School of Dance talent seekers found her and invited to Perm. Oksana graduated from Perm School of Dance six years later in 2007 at the age of 18 and joined the Mariinsky Ballet as a coryphée the same year. She was promoted to first soloist in 2012, in Sept 2015 Skorik was promoted to principal ballerina of Mariinsky.

Kimin Kim is a Principal with the Mariinsky Ballet. He was born in Seoul. Graduated from the Korea National University of Arts (class of Vladimir Kim and Margarita Kulik). For half a year he was a trainee with the Mariinsky Ballet. At the Mariinsky Theatre he made his debut as Ali in the ballet Le Corsaire (coached by Viktor Baranov). Since July 2012 he has been a First Soloist with the Mariinsky Ballet.

Anastasia Matvienko (Rus. Анастасия Матвиенко) is a first soloist at Mariinsky Ballet, St Petersburg. Anastasia was born at 1982 in Sevastopol, Ukraine. From 1996 to 2001 she studied at Kiev State Choreographic school. From 2001 to 2007 she was the first soloist of National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Ukraine. From 2007 to 2009 Anastasia was a principal dancer of Opera and Ballet Mikhailovsky, St. Petersburg, Russia. March 2009 Anastasia became a first soloist of Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia.

La Bayadère (en. La Bayadère,  The Temple Dancer; Rus. Баядерка) is a ballet, originally staged in four acts and seven tableaux by French choreographer Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus. The ballet was staged especially for the benefit performance of the Prima ballerina Ekaterina Vazem, who created the principal role of Nikiya. La Bayadère was first presented by the Imperial Ballet at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, on 4 February 1877. A scene from the ballet, known as The Kingdom of the Shades, is one of the most celebrated excerpts in all of classical ballet.

Nearly all modern versions of La Bayadère are derived from the Mariinsky Ballet’s production, which was originally staged in 1941 by Vakhtang Chabukiani and Vladimir Ponomarev. Natalia Makarova’s 1980 production for American Ballet Theatre has also been staged by several theatres throughout the world and is itself derived from Chabukiani and Ponomarev’s version.

In 1940 the Kirov Ballet once again made plans to revive La Bayadère, this time in a staging by the Balletmaster Vladimir Ponomarev and the Premier danseur Vakhtang Chabukiani. This version would be the definitive staging of La Bayadère from which nearly every subsequent production would be based. The Ponomarev/Chabukiani revival of La Bayadère premiered on February 10, 1941 to a resounding success, with Natalia Dudinskaya as Nikiya and Vakhtang Chabukiani as Solor.

The choreography for the character of Nikiya went through a renaissance in when performed by the virtuoso ballerina Dudinskaya, whose revisions to the choreography remain the standard. Although her interpretation of the tragic Nikiya was looked on as unsuitable for the stellar ballerina, she nevertheless excelled in The Kingdom of the Shades, where Petipa’s strict academic patterns prevailed. In the Variation de Nikiya (a.k.a. the Scarf Duet) she studded the choreography with multiple tours en arabesque, and included, for the first time, airy splits in her Grand jetés during the Entrée de Nikiya, as well as adding fast piqué turns in the Grand coda. The choreography for Solor went through a renaissance as well with the great Premier danseur Chabukiani in the role. Although the dances for the role of Solor had become far more prominent since La Bayadère had been performed in Imperial Russia, Chabukiani’s revisions to the choreography would become the standard for all proceeding male dancers.

 

Photo by Jack Devant ballet photography © with kind permission of the Mariinsky Theatre and mr. Yury Fateev, special thanks to Anna Kasatkina and Ekaterina Ordovskaya.