Ballet in Cinema: Bolshoi Ballet's "La Bayadere"

La Bayadère ("The Temple Dancer"), from the Bolshoi Ballet, tells the story of impossible love between the dancer Nikiya and the warrior Solor, set against the backdrop of lush, exotic India. Marius Petipa's choreography, here in a new scenic version by Yuri Grigorovich, is exquisite; especially noteworthy is the scene known as The Kingdom of the Shades, one of the most celebrated excerpts in ballet, and one of the first examples of "abstract ballet."