Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane
March 16, 2018

La Bayadère may not be a particularly well-known or frequently performed ballet, but that hasn’t stopped the Queensland Ballet from producing a brand-new rendition of the 1877 original. And it certainly hasn’t been done by half measures. There are new passages of choreography, a rearranged score, dozens of lavish costumes and a grand new set design. It may seem like a risky endeavour on paper, but thanks to the skilfull handling of the creative team and the reframing of the storyline as something more tangible than pure fantasy, this production certainly satisfies and occasionally exceeds expectations.

Joel Woellner and Yanela Piñera. Photograph © David Kelly

Most productions of La Bayadère are set in an exotic fictionalised India and tell the tale of a noble warrior who, despite professing his undying love for a bayadère (a temple dancer), finds himself in an arranged marriage to another woman. This love triangle is retained in the Queensland Ballet’s version, but director and choreographer Greg Horsman has sought to recontextualise the narrative in a more “real” India. It is 1855 – the height of the British occupation – in...