The Kirov Ballet has been dancing “La Bayadère” for 123 uninterrupted years. “The staging is blessed with design as old-fashioned and as marvelous as the dramatics of the piece itself: the Kirov retains the meticulous scenery made for a 1904 production, with all the magic of painted backdrops and illusionistic perspectives, soaring palaces and abundant greenery. (The sets now in use are scrupulous copies of the originals.) The ballet also honours something sadly ignored in the current performance style of the 19th-century repertoire: the power of dramatic gesture.” – Financial Times