Dear Audience!
The version we present has been staged by the world-renowned ballerina Natalia Makarova. In 1970, while on tour with what was then known as the Kirov Ballet, she sought political asylum in London. In 1980, her production of La Bayadère premiered at American Ballet Theatre in New York. This was her gift to the West: sharing the ballet heritage in which she herself was raised.
There may be many reasons why a work survives through the centuries. La Bayadère contains choreographically striking passages which, in addition to being beautiful, possess something timeless and abstract. The ballet was created by Marius Petipa in the same era in which he choreographed Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty. These works are the very crown jewels of ballet: creations that define the classical tradition, yet are also shaped by their time – marked by both fascination with, and ignorance of, other cultures. These classics represent escapism and stereotypes, but also contain moments which, even in their elevated form, can feel deeply human.
In all its beauty and harshness, La Bayadère evokes a double-edged feeling – something enchanting and painful at the same time. Perhaps it should unsettle us slightly: for which stories are allowed to be told, and by whom? What does our gaze on “the other” reveal about ourselves – and about where we come from?
The ballet you are about to see cannot be separated from its history. The classical ballet tradition has been shaped by a European, privileged perspective, and is influenced – both consciously and unconsciously – by its time’s perceptions of the world beyond itself. This cannot be concealed, but it can be made visible.
That is precisely why this season we are also presenting newly created works that revisit our own past and colonial history, and which ask how cultural heritage influences the way we look at, create and understand the world today.
Fifty-six years after Makarova left St Petersburg and Russia for the West, she returns to Oslo to stage La Bayadère with our dancers – and in the world as it looks today, it feels more important than ever to protect art, people and expressions. The expressions that bring us together, and those that divide us. The ones we like, and the ones we resist.
In times like these, we believe it is necessary to present the full breadth of our heritage – both the aspects we take pride in, and those we might prefer to push aside. History repeats itself in the worst possible ways, and on stage artists stand side by side, reinterpreting it. In the very moment of performance, these layers meet – of history and interpretation, between observer and perspective.
Welcome.
