Après la
danse...
Natalia: Where did the last act go?
Svetlana: Yes. I expected the curtain to come
down on the gods destroying the temple, trashing the wedding ceremony and all
the guests fleeing, screaming.
Natalia: Instead of which, this distinctly
Disney ending with the 32 dancers visiting Solor in his dream, and everyone is
beaming and beatific as the bouquets are brought.
Svetlana: When in the original version, the gods' wrath completes the narrative.
Final retribution. Tragic ending.
Natalia: You’re not happy?
Svetlana: Brilliant performance. But just for
fun, why don’t we ask for a partial discount?
Natalia: Because it ends happily, before the tears? You'd pay more to be sad?
________
Voice-over
The narrative arc of the original La Bayadère
is traditional. Simply put, Nikiya, the temple dancer, and warrior Solor are
lovers. Nikiya almost kills Gamzatti, a princess who is betrothed to Solor. At
the ceremony Nikiya dances with a basket of flowers into which a snake has been
put by Gamzatti. The snake bites Nikiya, she is offered an antidote, but refuses
it since she cannot marry Solor. Nikiya dies. Solor becomes depressed, smokes opium, has a
vision of Nikiya while spirits of other dancers appear in the fantastic Kingdom
of the Shades dance. (CUT!) Solor awakes, his wedding to Gamzatti is underway,
the gods unleash their wrath over the murder of Nikiya, destroying the temple
and everyone in it.
Perhaps most performances of La Bayadère finish
with the Kingdom of the Shades dance. At (CUT!). It is a spectacular dance. And the wrath of gods to come is not pretty to behold. And some audiences like a happy ending. But
nevertheless, ending at the Shades dance, something feels unresolved. The
narrative feels incomplete, ending in a dream.
...
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