Swan Lake
BOLSHOI: Swan Lake Music by Piotr Tchaikovsky; Choreography and Libretto by Yuri Grigorovich At the palace, the royal family and their guests are gathered for Prince Siegfried's birthday celebrations. In a majestic ceremony, Siegfried is made a knight; young girls try to attract his attention, as he must choose a wife during the ball. Overcome by the sudden awareness of his future responsibilities, he escapes into the night and meets a strange flock of swans by a magical lake. White swan by day, human by night, the beautiful Odette awaits an oath of true love to break the curse. The great legend of the enigmatic swan/woman is one of the most romantic classical ballets, appropriately set in the era of courtly romance and characterized by elegance, style and harmony. With Tchaikovsky's famous, lyrical score, Swan Lake depicts the tragic love between Princess Odette and Prince Siegfried, and will no doubt be performed to perfection by the unparalleled virtuosity of Russia's great Bolshoi Ballet. This universal and enchanting masterpiece of love, deception and drama is a must.
Tom's take
We really enjoyed this performance. Surprisingly one of the ballerinas fell to the floor in one of the big numbers where 30 or so dancers are shown from the overhead cam. She got up quickly and kept dancing. The dancers were spectacular, my only issue was the alternate ending where the white swan dies instead of the black. This didn't take anything away however, the whole thing was sumptuous.