Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo will close 2025 with the highly anticipated world premiere of Ma Bayadère, the latest creation by Artistic Director Jean-Christophe Maillot. Set to debut on 27th December at the Grimaldi Forum, this large-scale production marks a powerful return to narrative form for the renowned choreographer — a hallmark of his deeply human, emotionally rich work.
Rather than restaging the 19th-century orientalism of Marius Petipa’s original La Bayadère, Maillot chooses to peel back the decorative layers and examine the ballet’s emotional core. His version relocates the drama from a Hindu temple to the rehearsal studio of a modern dance company — a place where egos clash, loyalties shift, and the sacredness of the stage is as real as any myth.
“It’s no longer about sacred dancers in a faraway temple,” says Maillot. “It’s about the dancers we see every day, people who have sacrificed everything for this art. The studio becomes their temple, their battlefield, their home.”
A Choreographer’s Intimate Vision
With more than 45 ballets created for Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, Maillot is known for forging emotional storytelling through movement. But Ma Bayadère is especially personal — a title that unapologetically reflects his ownership of the narrative.
“The themes of rivalry, sacrifice, love, and betrayal — these aren’t abstract to me,” he explains. “They play out every day in the lives of dancers. This ballet speaks to what I’ve seen, what I’ve lived.”
He draws a sharp emotional arc through the story of Nikiya, the young female protagonist whose arrival upends the fragile balance of the group. For Maillot, Nikiya’s presence acts as a spark — igniting dreams, resentments, and longings in those around her. In her struggle for love and place, the audience sees a mirror of the human condition.
Dramatic Staging, Raw Emotion
The production brings together longtime collaborators to give Maillot’s vision life. Set and costume designer Jérôme Kaplan, assisted by Paul Kaplan, promises a visual universe that evokes both the grandeur of theatre and the gritty authenticity of backstage life. Lighting design by Maillot and Samuel Thery will shift with the emotional terrain of the piece — from explosive tension to introspective stillness.
Audiences can expect a production that is visually lush without being indulgent, pairing theatrical spectacle with the starkness of truth. “Nothing is superfluous,” Maillot notes. “Even the most beautiful element must serve the choreography and its message.”
The third act — the iconic Kingdom of the Shades — will be preserved in spirit, but reinvented to reflect Maillot’s pared-back, emotionally focused language.
From Monaco, to the World
Jean-Christophe Maillot’s works have long travelled beyond the Principality, with ballets performed by leading companies such as the Royal Swedish Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre and the Bolshoi. Yet Ma Bayadère remains firmly rooted in Monaco, shaped by the daily artistic dialogue with the 50 dancers of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo.
This world premiere continues the Principality’s legacy as a creative capital for dance — one that dates back to the Ballets Russes of Diaghilev and continues with today’s Monaco Dance Forum and the Princess Grace Academy.
With tickets already on sale, Ma Bayadère promises to be one of the cultural highlights of the season — and a defining new chapter in the repertoire of one of Europe’s most visionary choreographers.
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