La Bayadere takes place in Ancient India! One thing you’ll notice when you see India on a map is that it’s got a lot of water around it and when a body of land has a lot of water around it, the place is usually HUMID. Humid places are wet: you can feel water in the air, it rains often and it might even be a warm place with little pockets where the water stays in the ground like lakes or rivers. Also notice, India is pretty BIG!
India has a lot of green plants, because it’s got so much water. It’s got LOTS of rivers.
And now that you see how much water there is, consider this: the story of La Bayadere starts when they find a FIRE they can’t put out.
Science: Fire (in many forms)
You probably already know that water puts out (or extinguishes) fire, but if we don’t have enough water to cover the flames, a fire can keep going and eat up whatever is in its path. How can fire do that?
Fire is very both strong and beautiful. Did you notice in this video, the teacher talked about the colors inside the fire? In La Bayadere, we also see the dancers move their bodies to show they are looking at the SHAPE and MOVEMENT of the fire.
There are lots of ways to look at and think about an element like fire and doing crafts to work through what you see when you see fire is a really good way to start. What do you observe about fire when you recreate it using paper, crayons and glue?
I know that, when I was young, I got really frustrated that my art didn’t show others what I saw when I looked at things. If you’ve ever had that feeling, don’t worry, we aren’t stopping at coloring, drawing or crafting: we are also DANCING. The fire can be in your dancing, too. It is for Nikiya!
Watch the Ballet Online
La Bayadere is a high water mark in classical ballet and, as such, it’s not 100% easy for children to consume. I share this in the event you’d like to share one piece or another with your child but I don’t rightly expect that anyone will share this with their 2-10year old and make it through two hours of high drama in toe shoes. Mind you, it’s one rousing performance and the video production is great: clear and colorful and well danced. You’ll see many characters my abridged storytelling glosses over (e.g. servants, ghosts, tigers) and you’ll see dramas here that put “Real Housewives” to shame.
All this said, the music we use to dance through the story is from the KINGDOM OF SHADES scene, beginning 1:34 and this video’s Kingdom scene is breathtaking.
