"La Bayadere" Ballet Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ludwig Minkus

Born in 1826 Ludwig Minkus was the "First ballet composer" for the St Petersburg Imperial Theatres from 1871 until the post was abolished in 1886. He still composed music for them until 1891 at which time he retired to Vienna where he died in 1917.

Answer: 1877

The ballet took approximately six months to put together and has been staged many times since. Most of the productions staged today are very different from the original as much of the music was thought lost. The 2000 Kirov/Maryinsky production is the closest to the original after they found the original score in the theatre library.

Answer: Nikiya

The role of Nikiya was created as a benefit performance for Ekaterina Vazem. She was one of the most celebrated dancers of the time. She retired after the last performance of the season.

Answer: Marius Petipa

Marius Petipa was a very prolific choreographer creating over 50 ballets. Among these were "Don Quixote", "Swan Lake" and "Sleeping Beauty".

Answer: She dies of a snake bite

The "Bayadere" is killed by a snake which is hidden in a basket of flowers she believes is given by her lover.

Answer: India

At the time of the ballet's creation the Prince of Wales had just visited India. It was common at the period in question to produce both opera and ballet set in exotic locations.

Answer: Solor

Solor and Nikiya vow undying love for each other in the first act but they are seen by the High Brahmin who also loves Nikiya. He then vows vengeance and manages to achieve this by arranging the wedding between Solor and Gamzatti.

Answer: The Temple is destroyed by the Gods

The Gods are angry because Solor has made vows with Nikiya; these vows stand even after death. The Gods destroy the temple including everyone inside and Nikiya and Solor are reunited in death. This act is often left out of modern performances leaving a difficult-to-understand ending to the ballet.

Answer: The kingdom of the shades

This was actually the very first "White act" created for a ballet and proved very popular. The dancers enter one at a time performing arabesques down a ramp; it takes a very well trained corps to be able to perform this well.

Answer: Baron Karl Karlovich Kister

All the examples were Directors of theatres at some time in their lives.
Baron Karl Karlovich Kister was fond of opera as it made more money, so he made things very difficult for the choreographer. There was only one full dress rehearsal and the lighting went wrong at the first performance due to this. The lack of finances meant that the ballet closed after just 70 performances and although the shade scene was used for a while it was soon dropped from the repertoire.
Andrei Droznin is famous for creating his own movement theory known as the Droznin method. In 1998 he was awarded the title of Distinguished Artsmaker of Russia.
Sergey Obraztsov was a puppetmaster and is credited with establishing puppetry as a form of art.
Pyotr Mikhaylovich Yershov was born in 1910 and was an art theoretician; he died in 1994.