La Bayadère

Ajkun Ballet Theatre opens its Season with La Bayadère, a fiction of romance and pride set in Royal India. The dazzling choreography by Chiara Ajkun and visually intoxicating colors are backdrop of the tale of love, death and revenge of bayadère Nikiya and warrior Solor.

Based on Sergei Khudekov’s story, “La Bayadère” (“the temple dancer”) premiered in St. Petersburg in 1877 as a benefit for Russian Prima ballerina Ekaterina Vazem who danced Nikiya. Natalia Makarova brought the ballet to the United States, with her own version staged for American Ballet Theatre in 1980. Music by Austrian composer Ludwig Minkus. Nikiya, in love with Solor, rejects High Brahmin who vows to kill him. The Rajah wants Solor to marry his daughter, Gamzatti, and kills Nikiya during Gamzatti and Solor engagement. As the vengeance of the gods unleashes, Nikiya and Solor are united in eternal love.