Polina Semionova in La Bayadère

Ballet lovers are counting the days until they can watch Polina Semionova perform. The prima ballerina and guest dancer at the Mikhailovsky Theatre will dance the role of Nikiya in La Bayadère on 2 and 4 April. This role combines exquisite dance forms and an abundance of highly complex movements with emotional depth and dramatic contrasts; it is the apex of the choreographic art and only the most exceptional ballerinas are up to the task.

Polina Semionova is revered the world over for her technical skill, natural talent, and expressiveness. The Mikhailovsky audience praised her Giselle, in which she bewitched them with her weightless jumps and whirling arabesques; her Juliet also made a strong impression, conveying emotional turmoil exquisitely and evenly; while the dancer’s debut in Multiplicity. Forms of Silence and Emptiness was lauded by Londoners during the ballet’s UK tour last spring. Polina Semionova’s appearances with our company are a rarity, making the opportunity to see her in La Bayadère, in which the ballerina reigns supreme, all the more precious. The simplicity of the narrative and the familiarity of the notes in the score of this nineteenth-century ballet are eclipsed by the high poetry embodied in the portrayal of the heroine.

In each of La Bayadère’s three acts, the ballerina has the chance to show a different side of her talent. In the first act, we see a ritual dance routine of dazzling precision which, though it has no ethnographic accuracy, has a mischievous versatility and exotic flavour. Elements of pantomime weave in and out of the dance, requiring taste and theatrical sophistication from the modern dancer. The dramatic monologue that Nikiya performs in the second act is recognized as a masterpiece of exhilarating dance. Here, dynamic bursts cut through the clean poise, while the hammering, fingerpicking style blends with the adagio’s melodious lines. Finally, in the legendary scene of the third act, The Kingdom of the Shades, a dancing symphony unravels, in which the emotional tension and ambiguity of meaning in the dance fuse into an inseparable unity. For the ballerina, this is the moment of truth; for the audience, who find themselves raised to the level of witness, the memory of the performance will be treasured for years to come.