Paris Opera Ballet, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, CA
La Bayadère
April 30, May 1, May 3

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For the last performance of La Bayadère in San Francisco, Fanny Gaïda once again led the Paris Opéra Ballet dancing in the role of Nikiya last Thursday night. Her Solor this time was Jean-Guillaume Bart and the superb Agnès Letestu played Nikiya's rival, Gamzatti. Many of the other roles were taken by the same dancers as the first night and it was a relief to see everyone dancing at a much higher level than they had at the opening night.

Gaïda appeared far more relaxed and although her smile was not as encompassing as it might have been, she gave a warm rendering of the role. Nikiya turned out to be a slippery character to capture dramatically for these dancers. Perhaps their innate sophistication makes such innocent waifs hard to play. All of the étoiles had a much better time with Gamzatti, including Letestu, who took a catty satisfaction in every step. As for Solor, Bart made a huge impression both for his excellent technique and for his genuinely sweet, if feckless characterization. His elegant pirouettes were always consistent and the length of him made his grand jumps even more tremendous.

In their first pas de deux , Gaïda and Bart seemed less careful and more insouciant. Even the flying "bluebird" lift, which didn't quite make it to his shoulder, was tossed off boldly. This attitude gave a stronger contrast between Nikiya's scenes and those of Gamzatti, whose pas de deux had a calculation to every moment. I had to laugh out loud when, during the Wedding pas de deux in the Second Act, Solor's attention began to drift off. Gamzatti had both his hands in hers, and in a moment she gripped his hands, bringing him sharply to heel. In fact, Letestu was always in control, from her stalking and retrieving of errant jewelry in the first act to her impeccable fouettés en dedans. It was with a sort of sad shock that I realized that as Gamzatti, she didn't appear in the third act and that there was no more of her dancing to be seen that night.

Gaïda was certainly in better form, and though her turns were never compelling, she did take much slower and more stately arabesque turns and produced three beautiful pirouettes to arabesque in the notoriously difficult last section of her "Kingdom of the Shades" variation. Her Nikiya still strikes me as dramatically underplayed in her second act solo, (in which she appeared on Thursday to be bitten by a flower rather than by a snake). Nevertheless, she had a lovely quiet quality that perfectly suited the mood of the last act.

Benjamin Pech danced a rather mushy variation for the Golden Idol, but once again finished with a polished and soaring manége that made up for the lack of bite in the first part of the pas. In the "Kingdom of the Shades", Eleonora Abbagnato, Laëtitia Pujol and Delphine Moussin once more turned in technically secure and winsome variations.

The Paris Opéra Ballet will present Le Parc in San Francisco May 4, 5 and then La Bayadère in Los Angeles, May 8-13.

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This review initially appeared on Voiceofdance.com, May 5, 2001.

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