Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Choreography after Lev Ivanovich Ivanov
Costumes by Mike Gonzales
Décor by Clio Young
Lighting by Kip Marsh
Swept up into the magical realm of swans (and birds), this elegiac phantasmagoria of variations and ensembles in line and music is the signature work of Les Ballets Trockadero. The story of Odette, the beautiful princess turned into a swan by the evil sorcerer, and how she is nearly saved by the love of Prince Siegfried, was not so unusual a theme when Tchaikovsky first wrote his ballet in 1877 -- the metamorphosis of mortals to birds and visa versa occurs frequently in Russian folklore. The original Swan Lake at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow was treated unsuccessfully; a year after Tchaikovsky's death in 1893, the St. Petersburg Maryinsky Ballet produced the version we know today. Perhaps the world's best known ballet, its appeal seems to stem from the mysterious and pathetic qualities of the heroine juxtaposed with the canonized glamour of 19th century Russian ballet.
Dancers:
Ludmila Beaulemova (Trent Montgomery)
Anya Marx (Shohei Iwahama)
Holly Dey-Abroad (Felix Molinero del Paso)
Colette Adae (Jake Speakman)
Recorded at the Peacock Theatre on September 9, 2022 (London 2022).