Photo credits: Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo
This December, the Salle des Princes at Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum will host the world premiere of Ma Bayadère, the latest creation by Jean-Christophe Maillot, Choreographer-Director of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo. Premiering on December 27, 2025, and running through January 4, 2026, the ballet signals a defining return to narrative form for one of contemporary ballet’s most original voices.
Maillot’s reinterpretation of La Bayadère, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa in 1877 and famously reimagined by Rudolf Nureyev in 1992, decisively discards the orientalist tropes of its predecessors. In their place, Maillot offers a raw, psychologically charged reimagining set not in a mythic India but in the everyday world of a modern dance company. The sacred temple becomes a rehearsal studio; the ritual, rehearsal; the divine, fallibly human.
This is not merely an update but a reframing. As always, Maillot’s credo remains clear: to align classical vocabulary with storytelling that resonates now. His emotional throughline - “moves which bring us together” - runs deep. Ma Bayadère unfolds as a human comedy, fierce and darkly humorous, where the characters’ relationships echo our own: visceral, irrational, often tender, sometimes cruel.
The production brings together a team of longtime collaborators, including Jérôme Kaplan on sets and costumes, assisted by Paul Kaplan; Samuel Thery on lighting alongside Maillot himself; and dramaturg Geoffroy Staquet. Léon Minkus’s score is brought to life by the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Garrett Keast.
For Maillot, this is not merely an homage to the classical canon - it is a confrontation, a dialogue. Ma Bayadère promises to be one of his most intimate and unflinching works yet, testing the very limits of classical form and emotional truth.
Performances run December 27, 29, 30, and 31 at 7:30 p.m.; December 28 and January 4 at 3:00 p.m.; and January 2 and 3 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are now available. On-site parking is available at a night rate of €0.20 per 15 minutes from 7 p.m. to 8 a.m.
As 2025 closes, Ma Bayadère invites us not to escape into fantasy, but to look squarely at ourselves - through the lens of movement, music, and meaning.