orient story of love and betrayal
At the end of the 19 th century a famous French choreographer Marius Petipa ( He was called Marius Ivanovich in Saint Petersburg) created the ballet "La Bayadère". It tells a tragic love story of a dancer and a warrior, based on an ancient Indian legend.

In those days, Oriental topic was popular: artists, poets and composers were looking for the inspiration in exotic subjects. The music to the ballet was composed by Ludwig Minkus, a Czech composer who worked a lot in Russia. (For the convenience, he was given the Russian patronymic - Fyodorovich and was called Ludwig Fyodorovich).

In 1877, the result of Marius Ivanovich and Ludwig Fyodorovich's work was presented to sophisticated St. Petersburg's audience. The audience was delighted by the beautiful music and complicated choreography, luxurious costumes and amazing scenery, fascinating plot, vivid characters and a bit of magic. After the first night, the ballet was staged a lot in Russia and abroad and became one of the
most popular performances.