Swan Lake (Bristol)
Swan Lake is one of the best known of all ballets – with the beauty, fairy tale story, and the iconic music of Tchaikovsky, it has all the elements of success.
The ballet opens with the coming of age of Prince Siegfried – danced by Kirill Litvinenko – who is celebrating with his friends, including Benno von Somerstein, danced by Kirill Bulychev, and his Tutor, Wolfgang danced by Alexander Kuimov. There is a great deal of feasting and dancing at an impromptu celebration. The Queen (Anastasia Koreshmikova) arrives with great ceremony, and Prince Siegfried welcomes her. She reminds her son that the following evening he must formally choose his bride at the ball, and leaves the revelers to their enjoyments.
Prince Siegfried becomes thoughtful and reflective, and as the revelers leave he announces he wishes to be alone, and is somehow drawn magically to the banks of the lake. There he sees a flock of white swans and is especially struck by the grace and beauty of one of the swans – Princess Odette – danced by Maria Kuimova. She tells him that she and her companions have been bewitched by the Evil Genius – dance by Egor Osokin. By day the girls are forced to take the form of swans and only at night are they restored to their true human forms. The spell will only be broken when a man falls in love with her.
This sad and poignant story is superbly danced by all the members of the ballet. Maria Kuimova is outstanding and leaves the audience gasping as she dances her solos. Kirill Litvinenko is also brilliant as Prince Siegfried, and as he dances with Odette/Odile you can almost feel the chemistry between them
The choreography by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov and Sergei Bobrov is superb, and the dancers carry the audience along telling the story in a breathtaking way.
The sets and costumes by Maria Smirnova-Nesvitshaya are excellent and can only enhance the colour and enjoyment of the show.
Tchaikovsky’s music is of course beautiful and is wonderfully and sensitively played by the orchestra under the sure hand of Alexander Yudasin, the conductor. He seems in complete harmony with the dancers which makes for a feast for the ear as well as the eye.
All in all an excellent production which I highly recommend.
