With the lavish La Bayadère, and a superb mixed bill from the company’s next generation of stars, Bavarian State Ballet makes its first full-company visit to Hong Kong under the leadership of its Artistic Director Igor Zelensky. In La Bayadère’s imagined ancient India, a love triangle leads to intrigue, jealousy, and revenge. Marius Petipa’s original choreography, re-staged by former Paris Opera Ballet star and Nureyev disciple Patrice Bart, creates a feast of virtuosity. Spectacular sets and gorgeous costumes evoke an exotic world in which colour and beauty abound. Lost in Russia since the beginning of the 20th century, the ballet’s final act is partly Bart’s creation, partly a reconstruction. His collaborator is Japanese designer Tomio Mohri, famed as artistic director of many Issey Miyake exhibitions around the world, and for his sensational costumes in major European and international ballet productions. Not seen in Hong Kong for more than 20 years, La Bayadère contains one of the most famous scenes in ballet, The Kingdom of the Shades. Its procession of white-costumed ballerinas dancing across a moonlit stage is a ravishing spectacle.