ABT 2014 - La Bayadere

More ballet happiness last night at the Met - my subscription ticket for La Bayadere featured a ballerina I've enjoyed in the past alongside a new guest artist who I hope will be back soon.  I've seen La Bayadere a couple of times, most recently in 2012 with two of my uber-favorites, Polina Semionova and David Hallberg.  When I changed my subscription this year to Tuesday nights, I noticed I would be seeing Gillian Murphy and Denys Nedak.  It crossed my mind to exchange my tickets for another night to see Polina or maybe Marcelo Gomes, but then I thought, no, it's good to see new dancers!  And so it was last night...

Of course, with Polina and David's gorgeous gorgeousness still in my head, I did find last night's performance a little wanting.  It was a bit sedate and safe - lovely dancing, don't get me wrong.  But it was like looking at a beautiful painting - all surface and nothing underneath.  It was as if they were playing the dancing instead of the story.  I guess I like it better when they do both...

Denys Nedak is beautifully regal and oh so smooth a danseur.  He cuts a handsome figure on the stage and fills it nicely.  His hands are beautiful and it seems as if his partnering is very steady.  He might have been dancing a little carefully in certain spots, and he did have a bit of an oops in his second act solo.  But all in all, I think I'd like to see him in other roles - Swan Lake, perhaps - where his natural elegance can shine even more.

Gillian Murphy is a stunning dancer, like a diamond, bright and sharp.  But, again, it was as if she was dancing on the surface.  I didn't see any of the love or agony in her movements.  Well, I take that back, at one point during the scene with her romantic rival, I did see a glimmer of something, but when she danced for her lover and with her lover, there wasn't much 'lover'ing going on.  I guess it could be because Nedak is new to the company and there wasn't time to get much of a rapport.  But I still think there could've been more longing and oomph in the dancing.  They didn't seem to take any pleasure in dancing with each other.  And if there's no love or sorrow or redemption, it's just a bunch of pretty steps (which, of course, is still worth my time, imho).  Her solos were lovely, her spins were amazingly quick and her jumps were high and free.  I just wanted more...romance, I guess.

Isabella Boylston was the romantic rival, Gamzatti, and she had some fire and spirit in her miming scene, but not so much in her dancing.  Though her leaps were secure and her spins were fast, she seems a very brittle dancer to me.  And not brittle in a character way (which would've worked for this character), but in a dancer way.

photo credit: Marty Sohl

Actually, everyone last night seemed a little brittle and there were lots of bobbles throughout.  The Kingdom of the Shades piece was gorgeous, but a tad out of sync, and one poor gal dropped her leg - you could almost see her willing herself to keep that leg up but it just.wouldn't.stay.up.  Poor thing.  The three soloists were lovely, but each had a tiny glitch.  It was almost as if once one person wobbled, everyone else had to as well.  So it made me a little nervous throughout the rest of the evening that someone was going to go down.  Oh well.  Thankfully, no one did.  The third act pas de trois was actually quite nice and finally had a little romantic zip, but it was a tad late, for my tastes.


Roman Zhurbin was terrific as the High Brahmin (think Yul Brynner in The Ten Commandments) and Luis Ribagorda was fantastic as the head fakir.  The Bronze Idol solo was done by Zhiyao Zhang, who I don't think I've seen before.  He was quite powerful and sure, with beautiful turns in the air and precise landings.  I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for him the rest of the season.

There wasn't a lot of sustained applause last night - it was mainly polite, in keeping with the rather polite performances, with only one curtain call.  And I don't think I've ever seen the the theater empty so quickly.  Part of me wants to go back and try again - although the music and the dancing were lovely last night, on the whole, it wasn't the best Bayadere I've ever seen.  But at least I have my memories of other more successful (for me) performances...