The idea of love transcending the finite limitations of life has rarely been expressed more beautifully than in French choreographer Marius Petipa’s ballet La Bayadère, set to music by Austrian composer Ludwig Minkus. In “The Kingdom of the Shades” dream sequence, an Indian soldier named Solor is reunited with his true love, the dancer Nikiya, and surrounded by a fanlike, patterned bloom of luminous dancing spirits. In the right hands, this love potion of motion can be sublime, especially when served by Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra, the Russian company that first presented Petipa’s ballet. After summoning the spirits in Orange County, the dancers and musicians travel north a week later to the Music Center to unlock and reshape George Balanchine’s artful and relatively modernist Jewels.

Segerstrom Hall, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa; Wed.-Fri., Oct. 16-18, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Oct. 19, 1 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Oct. 20, 1 p.m.; $39-$199. (714) 556-2787, scfta.org.

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