Swan Lake: First Rate Ballet On Stage And Screen — londonist.com

Marianela Nuñez, just one of several outstanding dancers to be playing Odette over the Royal Ballet’s current run of Swan Lake © Dee Conway Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake is so popular today that it is easy to forget just what an incredible and beautifully crafted creation it really is. In telling of the Princess Odette who is transformed into a swan by day, and can only be released from the spell by the eternal commitment of one who has never loved before, it offers four scenes that contrast markedly from each other. Acts one and three feature jubilant celebrations and an entrancing ball, and were choreographed in 1895 by Marius Petipa. Conversely, acts two and four, created by Lev Ivanov, take place by a moonlit lake and feature ballet and emotions of a far more sensitive nature. Even the prima ballerina must adopt two different dancing styles as she is required to play both the lyrical and vulnerable Odette, and her ‘nemesis’ the evil and seductive Odile.

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