Fifi Leigh
Sunday, February 23, 2020
At noon, I drove to the Regency Theater to check out a Bolshoi Ballet live performance of Swan Lake from Moscow, Russia. After buying my ticket and picking out my seat, I decided to buy a cup of English black tea. Swan Lake performance has two acts and a 25-minute intermission. There is also a short introduction in three languages and short credits. Hosted by Katerina Novikova, directed by Isabelle Julien, choreographed by Marius Petipa and then Yuri Grigorovich, as well as musical direction by Pavel Sorokin and music by Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky. Other performers included the Bolshoi Corps de Ballet.
The main characters included Odette, Odile, Prince Siegfried, Evil Genius, and The Fool.
Act I started out with celebrations for Prince Siegfried’s birthday. The Queen knighted him, before the Evil Genius enters the scene, and he is knowns as the dark shadow. This dark shadow leads Prince Siegfried to the lake at night, where he meets Odette and immediately falls in love with her. Odette is a white swan during the daytime and a woman during the nighttime because of the dark shadow’s curse on her. Only true love can undo this curse. Prince Siegfried tells her he loves her.
Prince Siegfried looked like a fairy tale prince charming, dancing with long lean, clean, and elegant lines, determined to marry her. Odette is very feminine and light on her feet, as she flutters across the stage like a white graceful swan. The Fool was light and entertaining, as he jumped around joyfully, similar to spirit jester. He jumped high, and literally flew through the air, as he danced a strong ballet performance. Evil Genius, or the dark shadow, was very dramatic and confident.
In Act II, Prince Siegfried’s mother ties to help Prince Siegfried forget about Odette by introducing him to a couple of princesses. They each dance an elegant performance to be his princess. But Prince Siegfried is still in love with Odette and he wants her badly. The Evil Genius or dark shadow enters the scenes with the Black Swan Odile, and she looks like Odette’s doppelganger to trick the prince. Prince Siegfried falls for this trick because he really believes she is Odette. He decides to marry the black swan Odile. He suddenly notices the white swan Odette from a distance. He soon realizes that he married the wrong person. He goes to the lake after Odette.
(You can watch the Swan Lake performance on Youtube, but I think the video has different Bolshoi dancers, like the dancers in the above trailer).
