La Bayadere

I was a very excited person on Wednesday evening as I sat in a lobby-type area of the Mariinsky Theater, waiting for the doors to the theater itself to open. I ended up with quite a bit of time to be excited, for, having been misinformed about the start-time of the show, we (myself and two other international trainees) arrived at the theater over a hour early. The fact that we had unnecessarily rushed to eat dinner, change, and get to the theater didn't dampen my excitement, because I was about to see la Bayadere performed by the company that is the most famous for it.

This is where I sat, in a sort of curved hallway that makes a ring outside the seating area of the theater. On the left (through the arches) is the lobby area where you enter the building, and on the right (accessible via doors set into the wall with stairs leading up to them), is the theater itself. It is a very beautiful place to sit and wait. The chairs are comfortable, with cushions in the seat and on the back that are covered in green velvet, and the Mariinsky Theater also has free WiFi, so I didn't have a problem with waiting there for a bit.

Arriving early left plenty of time for us to get our ticket (singular... I'll explain momentarily), for me to buy a program, and then for us to get to see more of the theater than the last time we came, when the show began earlier than the show did last night. Here is the ceiling of the ballroom-type hall in the theater that we didn't have time to go inside when we came a few weeks ago. The walls are the same mint green as most everything else in the building, with intricate and ornate white designs leading up to and covering the whole ceiling. This is a room that makes you want to go inside it when you catch a glance at it from the hallway. I wish that my photograph (which is unfortunately the best one I have of this room) were doing a better job of showing how beautiful it is.

If you want a program from the ballet, you have to buy it, which I did. The programs from the Mariinsky cost about $1. I have decided that this is a dollar that is perfectly fine to spend, especially since the student tickets we can get through the academy are complimentary. Reading the names of the dancers and the titles of the roles is also good Russian language practice, which is one of the reasons why I passed up the English version that I could have gotten instead. Another reason? It's just cooler to have the program in Russian! The programs are elegant and green, just like the theater. The text on the front says that this is their 231st season (and is printed in metallic gold ink). Below that, Mariinsky Theater is written in Russian.

Earlier, I promised that I would explain the singular ticket that we had for the three of us who went to the ballet. At the academy, we receive a slip of paper with the date of the performance and number of tickets we have asked for, which we bring to the theater. At the box office, we show our student cards from the academy, and that enables us to exchange our slip of paper for a handwritten ticket telling us where we get to stand and watch the show.

All of the seats besides those in the orchestra section are divided into boxes, with about ten seats per box. The boxes are separated from one another by short walls, about the height of my hip, and each has its own door. The boxes are filled with three rows of chairs, like the ones in the lobby, but with a number on each one. The standing spots are right by the door to enter the box. 

Each box only has room for one person, so my companions and I were all assigned to different ones. They were right next to each other, all located slightly to the left of the center of the first ring of seats outside the orchestra section. You can find where we were sitting in the next picture, which is of a small (about 18" wide) model of the seating area of the theater that is right next to the box office.

I was a lucky person because one of the ushers allowed me to drag a chair in from the lobby so that I could sit down during the performance. My friends were not so lucky; another usher made them put their chairs back in the hall. She didn't come to my box, though, so I was able to keep my chair. I ended up standing for well over half of the performance anyway, because I could see better, but it was excellent to have the option to sit down when my feet needed a break.

I thought that the theater was gorgeous when I came there before, but on Wednesday I realized that it is even more beautiful than I had realized. My spot was more centered and closer to the stage, so I ended up with a better view of the show and into the theater itself. I couldn't resist taking another panorama.

The show itself was incredible. I have performed in or seen performances of many of the dances from la Bayadere, so quite a bit of the choreography was familiar, but much more was completely new to me. Even the dances that I know well felt very different and new, though, for seeing all of the individual dances strung together and within the context of the storyline changes each one.

Nikiya, the female main character, was danced by Ekaterina Kondaurova. She was beautiful. Perfect for the role. I can't even think of anything else to say besides that.

I can't finish this post without talking about the corps de ballet. At the end of la Bayadere, when Nikiya has died after being bitten by a snake, her distraught lover dreams that he sees Nikiya dancing amongst her fellow shades (spirits of dead young women). This scene cannot exist without the corps de ballet, in this case consisting of thirty-two women, the shades, who all must dance exactly in unison for the entire third act of the ballet. The Mariinsky has a reputation for having an extremely strong corps de ballet, and this performance supports that reputation. The shades were very clean, precise, and coordinated. I didn't want the ballet to end (though my feet did). I wanted the show to keep going so that I could continue watching.

The show left me feeling inspired, which is a very good thing. Because it started at eight, we weren't able to get back to the academy until after eleven thirty, so I didn't end up getting too much sleep. I'm not sure how I would have made it through my day yesterday if I had just been tired, but I was tired and inspired, so I was perfectly fine!