Books, Arts & Manners: Into the Kingdom of the Shades

Rudolf nureyev waited thirty years after coming to the West to stage La Bayadere, and he almost waited too long. The Paris Opera Ballet gave its first performance of the new production on October 8, 1992; less than three months later Nureyev was dead.

When he first suggested staging it for the Royal Ballet in 1963, the Royal’s director, Ninette de Valois, declined. She did allow him to do the “Kingdom of the Shades” scene, which became one of the jewels in his partnership with Margot Fonteyn). He restaged many other ballets in the interim (including the Petipa Raymonda, never before done in the West), but he was not, after all, first with La Bayadere. Nataliya Makarova, another product of the Kirov Ballet, weighed in with her own version for American Ballet Theatre in 1980.

About the Author

Linda Bridges

Ms. Bridges is the former editor-at-large of National Review.

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Rudolf nureyev waited thirty years after coming to the West to stage La Bayadere, and he almost waited too long. The Paris Opera Ballet gave its first performance of the new production on October 8, 1992; less than three months later Nureyev was dead.

When he first suggested staging it for the Royal Ballet in 1963, the Royal’s director, Ninette de Valois, declined. She did allow him to do the “Kingdom of the Shades” scene, which became one of the jewels in his partnership with Margot Fonteyn). He restaged many other ballets in the interim (including the Petipa Raymonda, never before done in the West), but he was not, after all, first with La Bayadere. Nataliya Makarova, another product of the Kirov Ballet, weighed in with her own version for American Ballet Theatre in 1980.