Swan Lake

Swan Lake

Being the most widely performed ballet in the world, Swan Lake is incredibly popular. It was first shown by Pyotr Tchaikovsky in 1875, although it is presented in many different versions, most ballet companies base the choreography and music of their staging’s on the 1895 revival of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. This essay will compare and contrast the traditional version and Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake. By analysing both ballets this essay will deconstruct the differences between the two pieces.
Tchaikovsky's production of Swan Lake was the original; it premiered on Saturday, March 4, 1877 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. It begins at a royal court and Prince Siegfried, must choose a wife at his birthday ball. Upset that he cannot marry for love, Siegfried escapes into the forest at night. As he sees a flock of swans flying overhead, he sets off in pursuit. He stops and stares at a beautiful creature dressed in white feathers, more woman than swan. Enamored, the two dance and Siegfried learns that the swan maiden is the princess Odette. An evil sorcerer, von Rothbart, captured her and used his magic to turn Odette into a swan by day and woman by night. Entourages of other captured swan-maidens attend Odette in the environs of Swan Lake, which was formed by the tears of her parents when she was kidnapped by von Rothbart. Once Siegfried knows her story, he takes great pity on her and falls in love. As he begins to swear his love to her - an act that will render the sorcerer's spell powerless - von Rothbart appears. Siegfried threatens to kill him but Odette intercedes. If von Rothbart dies before the spell is broken, it can never be undone. When the Prince returns to the castle, Von Rothbart arrives in disguise with his own daughter Odile, dressed as Odette but in black the Prince mistakes her for Odette, dances with her, and proclaims to the court that he intends to make her his wife. Only a moment too late, Siegfried sees the real Odette and realizes his...

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