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| Programme |
ACT ONE
It's Prince Siegfried's 21st birthday and the castle is thronged with wellwishers come to celebrate the occasion. Amidst the fun and games, the Prince's aunt arrives to remind him that his coming of age is a serious affair, and at the coming ball he is to choose a bride from among a group of prospective flancees. This is a sobering thought for Siegfried who has no desire to marry and say goodbye to the days of his carefree youth. To take his mind from such matters, the Prince's friend, Benno, suggests a hunting expedition and they set off to the lake in pursuit of wild swans.
ACT TWO
The hunting party arrive in a clearing by the lake. A flock of swans are gathered on the lake. One swan in particular attracts Siegfried's attention, a beautiful white swan which is suddenly transformed into a beautiful young maiden. She is Odette, who along with her friends has been cursed by the evil sorcerer Von Rothbart - by day they must live their lives as swans, only able to resume their human forms between midnight and dawn. Only the pure love of a young man can break the power of the sorcerer's curse. Siegfried falls madly in love with Odette, vowing to save her from the curse, but von Rothbart has been spying on the pair in the guise of an owl and plots to trick the Prince into breaking his vow.
ACT THREE
The following evening in the castle ballroom all the guests are gathered for the engagement ceremonies. The princesses that have been invited for Siegfried to choose from are each in their turn presented but none of them please him. Suddenly, two more guests arrive, it is Von Rothbart and his daughter Odile. Siegfried is fooled by her likeness to Odette and, believing her to be Odette, swears his fidelity to her in front of all present. Von Rothbart and Odile triumphantly reveal themselves, realising he has has been tricked into betraying Odette the Prince rushes to the lake to find her and beg her foregiveness.
ACT FOUR
Back at the Lake Odette tells the other Swan maidens of Siegfried's betrayal. The evil sorceror has won, the curse cannot be broken now. The Prince arrives and begs Odette to forgive him, but Odette is destined to die of a broken heart. Heartbroken also, the Prince fights with Von Rothbart, with his last breath he is victorious and the swan maidens are freed from the evil spell. In death, the souls of Siegfried and Odette are united in eternal happiness.
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| From the programme |
To call this company the Moscow City Ballet is something of a misnomer, since they spend little if any time there. Since their inception almost three quarters of all their performances have been staged in the UK, and long may it remain so. This is a very strong company with wonderful principal dancers.
Swan Lake is surely the most magical of all romantic ballets when it is done well and this production gave no dissapointments. In fact, it was a somewhat lavish production in light of the limitations of the venue. I counted as many as twenty-four swans on stage simultaneously, not a massive number by the standards of the Paris Opera Ballet perhaps, but for a touring company in an English Northern Provincial town it made for an impressive sight indeed. Moreover, on such a small stage, so many individuals dancing in unison without any obvious bumps or collisions is a testament to the high level of skill and coordination that ran through the entire corps de ballet.
The sets and backdrops were simple but varied and highly effective, with dry ice mist being added to enhance the atmosphere in the lakeside scenes. The costumes in particular were sumptuous and bewildering in variety.
Anastasia Gubanova was for me the stand-out star of the production, giving beautifully observed performance in the lead role of Odette/Odile. She danced the part of Odette with supreme grace and beauty, but clearly relished most of all the counter personality of the Odile character which she took on with some relish, giving full vent to her artistic expression and dancing the part with great conviction. For her first appearance as Odile she wears a half white, half black tutu representing the duality of representing herself as Odette. Later she changes to all black when she is finally revealed as the triumphant Odile. Talgat Kozhabayev was a handsome and dashing Prince Siegfried, and Adel Kinzikeev a suitably sinister Von Rothbart. Both performed their roles exceedingly well, as did Sergey Zolotarev as the Princes friend Benno who took all the early male dance credits. The foreign Princesses danced by Natalia Padalko (Hungarian), Gulnur Sarsenovo (Spanish), Valeriya Bystrova (Venetian), Ekaterina Tokareva and Marina Ivushkina (Polish) were all superb and defined a very high standard
Sumptuous costumes, colourful sets and a large and talented corps de ballet made this a production to savour. Top class.