Programmes
Ballet Nacional de España—La Bella Otero
The 54th Hong Kong Arts Festival opens in grand style with Ballet Nacional de España’s production of an enthralling dance drama on a grand operatic scale, La Bella Otero tells the story of the alluring Spanish artist Carolina Otero of the late 19th century. Once one of the most famous women in the world, her fascinating story has largely been lost to time. Director Rubén Olmo has re-imagined Otero’s extraordinary life in an electrifying production which draws intriguing parallels with Bizet’s Carmen.

More Details
The 27 Feb Festival Opening performance is sponsored by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust as part of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series
Ballet Nacional de España—La Bella Otero
The 54th Hong Kong Arts Festival opens in grand style with Ballet Nacional de España’s production of an enthralling dance drama on a grand operatic scale, La Bella Otero tells the story of the alluring Spanish artist Carolina Otero of the late 19th century. Once one of the most famous women in the world, her fascinating story has largely been lost to time. Director Rubén Olmo has re-imagined Otero’s extraordinary life in an electrifying production which draws intriguing parallels with Bizet’s Carmen.

More Details
The 27 Feb Festival Opening performance is sponsored by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust as part of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series
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The 54th HK Arts Festival ．Feature
2025.12.19

The Fleeting Dream of A Peerless Dancer

Text / Trista Yeung

The name La Bella Otero might seem unfamiliar to Hong Kong audiences, but this Spanish dancer was nothing short of a phenomenon in 19th-century Europe. The woman born Carolina Otero was the embodiment of the Belle Époque—a living fantasy, with a graceful presence, striking features and a statuesque elegance that bewitched the continent's elite. European high society was spellbound by her charm and her list of admirers was as dazzling as her reputation, including Kaiser Wilhelm II, Prince Albert I of Monaco, King Edward VII of England and King Alfonso XIII of Spain.

Otero's life was both extravagant and controversial, and her perceived moral transgressions only added to her fame. She became a sensation at iconic venues such as the Folies Bergère and Cirque de Eté in Paris, and the music halls of New York. Every performance was a spectacle as Otero danced in stunning costumes, with one witness recalling: "She wore a white satin dress with a plunging neckline lined with ostrich feathers. To show off her legs, the dress was open at the sides. The purity and beauty of her pale face made a lady in the front row sigh."

© MaríaAlperi

But Otero's allure went beyond mere beauty. She was a master at shaping her public image and cultivating her celebrity. Otero's gift for turning love into wealth rewarded her with countless suitors and fuelled her legend. Asked about the secret to her success, she replied: "If a gentleman is seen with me, it strengthens his reputation because he is then considered extremely rich."

© María Alperi

Spanish director and choreographer Rubén Olmo's fascination with Otero's life led him to create the biographical dance performance La Bella Otero, which premiered in Madrid in 2021 with the Ballet Nacional de España. Inspiration struck when Olmo stumbled upon a postage stamp of Otero in a dazzling Goya-esque costume while walking down Barcelona's La Rambla. "What's most compelling about Otero is how she created her own character from nothing," Olmo tells FestMag. "She made herself a legend—an international superstar."

Olmo's work traces Otero's journey from a troubled childhood in a small village in Pontevedra, marked by rejection and abuse, through a life of romantic entanglements and extraordinary resilience, to her meteoric rise to fame. "These are real stories," Olmo says. "We wanted to tell them from an artistic point of view, so that the character, the person, can be better understood. Her life, her experiences, her heartbreaks, her lovers, her failures, everything made her that way. Her entire life was a struggle: fighting against men, against society. She wanted power and money ... But an addiction to gambling led to her downfall."

© María Alperi

To underscore Otero's emotional journey, Olmo includes a pivotal, haunting scene titled "Rasputin" in the latter half of the production. In stark contrast to the earlier scenes of glittering Parisian nightlife, the audience is transported to a sombre Orthodox church. "It's the turning point of the performance, symbolising her friendship with Rasputin—her only true friend. He is the voice that tells her that her time has come. In her twilight years, Otero attempts to perform Bizet's Carmen, only to realise that her glory days are gone. It is her last performance, her last show. It's the end."

As the classical Arabic verse says: "Everything declines after reaching perfection, therefore let no man be beguiled by the sweetness of a pleasant life." Otero was never blind to the inevitability of decline and mortality. In the 1981 biography, La Bella Otero: The Last Great Courtesan, by Charles Castle, Otero is quoted as saying: "Women have one mission in life: to be beautiful. When one gets old, one must learn how to break mirrors. I am very gently expecting to die." In 1965, Otero passed away peacefully in Nice, aged 96 and completely alone.

© Jesús Vallinas

Ballet Nacional de España—La Bella Otero

Date: Feb 27, 2026

Venue: Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre

Details: https://www.hk.artsfestival.org/en/programme/Ballet-Nacional-de-Espana-La-Bella-Otero

The 54th HK Arts Festival

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