Classical ballet in grand style, Joburg Ballet’s La Bayadère is on at Joburg Theatre from 12 to 28 September 2014. Photo courtesy Joburg Ballet.

Known as one of the greatest 19th century ballets, La Bayadère (or ‘the temple dancer’ in English) is set in the royal India of the past where the exotic story of love, betrayal, vengeance and justice unfolds. Marking a first for Joburg Ballet, La Bayadère premieres at the Joburg Theatre from 12 September through to 28 September 2014.

Large cast assembled from South Africa and Cuba

Enter the ethereal plane of the Kingdom of the Shades. Photo by Lauge Sorensen

To stage such a big ballet as La Bayadère requires opulent stage sets and a large cast of dancers, particularly for choreographer Marius Petipa’s iconic Kingdom of the Shades scenes where columns of shades (spirits) descend with their synchronous arabesque sequence.

To achieve the grand scale, the company has assembled a large cast including Joburg Ballet’s own principal dancers, soloists and corps de ballet, a guest artist from the National Ballet of Cuba, dancers from the Joburg Ballet Academy, Joburg Ballet Cuban School, additional freelance dancers and extras, as well as two veteran ballet personalities for the mime roles.

In celebrating 5 years of the South Africa-Cuba ballet partnership begun by CEO Dirk Badenhorst in 2009, Joburg Ballet has cast National Ballet of Cuba guest artist Luis David Valle Ponce in the lead male role for certain performances (see full casting below).

Valle Ponce will share the role of the warrior Solor with Ramiro Samón, Juan Carlos Osma and Jonathan Rodrigues. As for the temple dancer Nikiya, the bayadère will be danced by Joburg Ballet’s prima ballerina Burnise Silvius as well as Shannon Glover, Nicole Ferreira-Dill and Lindé Wessels. The rival love interest of Princess Gamzatti will be performed by Claudia Monja, Angela Revie, Sanmarie Kreuzhuber-Hagler and Dayana Hardy Acuna.

Shannon Glover and Luis David Valle Ponce as Nikiya and her warrior love Solor. Photo by Lauge Sorensen

One of the ballet’s spectacular male showpieces, the Bronze Idol, will be shared by Luis David Valle Ponce, Javier Monier, Jonathan Rodrigues, Ramiro Samón and Randol Figueredo, while the two major mime roles – the Rajah and the High Brahmin – will be portrayed by the highly experienced Manuel Noram and Nigel Hannah.

Admitting to the huge undertaking that is La Bayadère, artistic director Iain MacDonald says he’s proud of the dedication and passion of the team, adding that “a classic like La Bayadère is a supreme challenge for any ballet company and our audiences can look forward to a major new addition to our repertoire, beautifully danced by the whole company.”

Casting for La Bayadère:

Casting details (subject to change) are as follows for the roles of Nikiya, Solor, Gamzatti and the Bronze Idol:

• Friday 12 September at 7:30pm: Silvius, Samón, Monja, Valle Ponce
• Saturday 13 September at 3pm: Glover, Valle Ponce, A. Revie, Monier
• Saturday 13 September at 7:30pm: Ferreira-Dill, Osma, Monja, Rodrigues
• Sunday 14 September at 11am: Wessels, Rodrigues, Kreuzhuber-Hagler, Samón
• Sunday 14 September at 3pm: Glover, Valle Ponce, A. Revie, Figueredo
• Tuesday 16 September at 11am: Glover, Valle Ponce, A. Revie, Samón
• Sunday 21 September at 11am: Ferreira-Dill, Osma, Monja, Rodrigues
• Sunday 21 September at 3pm: Silvius, Samón, Acuna, Figueredo
• Wednesday 24 September at 7:30pm: Wessels, Rodrigues, Kreuzhuber-Hagler, Samón
• Friday 26 September at 7:30pm: Silvius, Samón, Monja, Rodrigues
• Saturday 27 September at 3pm: Ferreira-Dill, Osma, Kreuzhuber-Hagler, Valle Ponce
• Sunday 28 September at 3pm: Silvius, Samón, Acuna, Monier

Booking details:

Dates: Fri 12 Sep 7:30pm (½ Price Night); Sat 13 Sep 3pm & 7:30pm; Sun 14 Sep 11am & 3pm; Tue 16 Sep 11am (School Performance); Sun 21 Sep 11am & 3pm; Wed 24 Sep 7:30pm; Fri 26 Sep 7:30pm; Sat 27 Sep 3pm; Sun 28 Sep 3pm.
Venue: Joburg Theatre, Braamfontein, Johannesburg
Tickets: from R100 to R400 via JoburgTheatre.com or 0861 670 670

Special booking offer – Ballet Combo: 20% off all performances except ½ Price Nights if booking for both La Bayadère and The Nutcracker Re-Imagined at the same time. (When booking online, add the code joburg ballet into the coupon field and click on the green plus button to activate the discount to your purchase.)

As the name suggests, the school is affiliated to Joburg Ballet and yes, they teach the Cuban method of ballet, which is the same method that taught Royal Ballet star Carlos Acosta to dance like this… Yoh!

The Joburg Ballet Cuban School is developing into a centre of excellence for aspiring dancers. The ballet company’s professional dancers and teachers work with the pupils, teaching valuable skills and knowledge in classical ballet as well as offering them exposure to other careers in the performing arts such as lighting design, arts management and costume design.

Allowing access to the same type of training that Cubans receive in Havana, the Joburg Ballet Cuban School works to secure a continuing path of improvement as Cuban teachers (and dancers) visit and share their knowledge here in South Africa. This all with the aim that maybe one day these young Joburg kids can do insanely impressive pirouettes like Viengsay Valdés seen in this Black Swan video clip.

Audition details:

• Boys aged from 6 years to 10 years and girls aged from 6 years to 9 years are invited to audition for a place in this prestigious school.
• Please note that space is limited.
• No previous ballet training or experience is required.
• There is no charge for the audition.

Joburg Ballet Cuban School pupils pose after a lesson with Dr Ramona de Saa and Elena Cangas from Havana.

Audition date: 28 January 2014 at 4pm.

Venue: Joburg Ballet studios, Hoofd Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Application enquiries: Contact Fiona Brown on 011 877 6910 or fiona@joburgballet.com for application forms and further information.

Closing date for applications: 27 January 2014

Did you know?

The ballet world owes a debt of gratitude to Mr Fidel Castro for encouraging ballet legend Madame Alicia Alonso to form the National Ballet School of Cuba, which developed the unique ballet training method now known as the ‘Cuban Method’.

The same method that brought us fouettes like these (yes, we just can’t help ourselves, here’s the National Ballet of Cuba’s Viengsay Valdés again, this time in Diana and Actaeon)…