SWAN LAKE RETURNS TO BALLET WEST DURING RECORD-BREAKING 60TH SEASON
A must-see for any theatre -goer, Swan Lake returns to Ballet West Feb. 9 - 17 at the Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre. The epitome of ballet with elegant ballerinas, chivalrous princes, and heart-wrenching music by Tchaikovsky, will be performed live by the Ballet West Orchestra.
“Swan Lake is one of the greatest pieces of theater of all time,” said Ballet West Artistic Director Adam Sklute. “After Nutcracker, it’s the first thing people think of when they think of classical ballet, but Swan Lake is so multi -faceted and filled with profound, deeply moving storytelling, great music, powerful and athletic dancing, artistry, and magic. For our production, I have tightened up the pacing, and heightened the drama to create a work that melds this 19th Century classic with a 21st-century sensibility.”
The story follows a forlorn prince, an evil wizard, and an enchanted maiden who can only become human by the light of the moon. Originally premiering in 1877 by the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, the production was considered an artistic failure. After Tchaikovsky died in 1893, choreographer Marius Petipa and in 1895 Lev Ivanov reimagined the production into what is now the most well-known and loved ballet in the world.
Ballet West Founder Willam Christensen created the first full-length American production of Swan Lake in 1940 when he was the Artistic Director of San Francisco Ballet. Since then, each artistic director at Ballet West has reworked the production after the original choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, with Sklute producing his own version in 2010.
“When I decided to dive into Swan Lake, I really wanted to understand the psychology of the characters and ultimately finish the story with a sense of empowerment for the swan maidens to rise up against, their captor, the evil magician and in the end, because of the bravery of their queen Odette and her sacrifice with the prince, they are made human again,” said Sklute.
