For my final installment of five essential story ballets, I'm going to focus on Swan Lake. It’s an interesting ballet and one that many large, classical ballet companies perform routinely now.

A bit of history, before I discuss it in detail. Swan Lake has murky beginnings. No one is entirely sure who created the libretto (story), or what it was based on. There are folk tales from both Russia and Germany that centre on swans, princesses and evil sorcerers, but nothing that is solely credited as the inspiration behind the ballet. The ballet premiered in 1895, but almost nothing of that version still exists. The most famous version of the work was created by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov in 1877 for the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia. Tchaikovsky created the score, and the combination of Petipa and Tchaikovsky was usually a successful one (see The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, etc.), but in this case the ballet flopped. Despite this, it was still performed regularly and eventually gained some notoriety. Today it’s in the cannon of most ballet companies across the world. There have been countless variations of it created, some with contemporary twists – like Matthew Bourne’s all-male Swan Lake. Most readers are likely also familiar with Darren Aronofsky’s The Black Swan movie, a horror movie set in a ballet company who are performing Swan Lake.

I’ve seen James Kuldeka’s full-length Swan Lake multiple times, and Act II of Erik Bruhn’s version several times as well. I think one of the things I like about this ballet is its magic realism – the story does centre on a princess who is turned into a swan, after all! Because there have been so many versions of Swan Lake, not all of them end the same way. Indeed, some of them feature different characters, so the summary I’m outlining below is based on the versions I’ve seen.

In Act One we meet Prince Siegfried. He’s just turned 21 and so is informed by his mother, the Queen, that he now must choose a bride. She will organize a party for the following evening, with several potential brides for him to choose from.

Siegfried is a romantic at heart and wants to truly love his bride so this news makes him sad. Now we’re in Act Two. That night, he wanders away from the Palace and his friends into the forest. He finds himself by a lake (Swan Lake) and is transfixed by the beautiful Swans there. One of them, it turns out, is actually a Princess. She’s been cursed by an evil Queen (or, in some versions, an evil sorcerer. In Kudelka’s version it is a sorcerer named Rothbart) so that during the day she is forced to take the shape of a swan, while at night she reverts to her human self. Because it’s evening now, the Prince meets her, falls in love with her, and they dance a beautiful dance. The Prince learns that the curse on the swan – Odette – will be destroyed if someone can pledge to love her for all eternity.

Siegfried is ready to sweas he will love her, but the two are forced apart by Rothbart, and he is sent back to his castle.

Cut to the next night and Act Three. The party at the castle is in full swing, and Prince Siegfried is being forced by his mother to select a bride from one of the many Princesses in attendance, some of whom are featured and allowed to dance for him. Siegfried is uninterested, however, preferring to think of his love, Odette, and when he can next see her.

All of a sudden the party is interrupted by the arrival of Rothbart and a Black Swan, Odile. Prince Siegfried thinks it’s his beloved, so he dances with her and declares his true love. Then he proposes. Rothbart’s deception is revealed and Siegfried realizes he’s declared his love to the imposter Odile, and is therefore no longer able to break Odette’s curse. His betrayal of Odette also wreaks havoc on the castle and court, which suddenly are flooded and fall apart, leaving Siegfriend as the sole survivor. Heartbroken, he flees to Swan Lake again. Now we’re in Act Four. Siegfried dances, one last time, with the swan maidens and his true love, Odette, who forgives his unwitting betrayal. Then Rothbart appears. Here is where the endings of various versions differ. In some, Siegfried is cursed with death and Odette doomed to stay trapped in her swan appearance. In others Siegfried and Odette drown, determined to die together as they cannot live together. In some versions Odette’s death also breaks the curse set on the remaining swan maidens, who are then freed to leave the lake. In Kudelka’s version, Siegfried drowns and Odette is left alone and heartbroken. In any case, Swan Lake does not deliver a happy ending.

In the majority of Swan Lake productions, the roles of Odette and Odile, the white swan/black swan, are danced by the same ballerina. This is just one of the many ways in which this role is very challenging. The ballerina must be able to dance as though she is an innocent princess, cursed to be a bird, who falls in love. Then she must also play the black swan seductress, aiming to cause hurt to Siegfried.

In addition to the dramatic and acting abilities required, the roles of Odette/Odile are also very technically demanding. At one point the ballerina playing the role must dance the famous 32 fouettés in a row – quite the bravura step. It is for reasons like this that the role is often referred to as the “test of a true ballerina”.

I think Swan Lake is essential viewing for many reasons. I love watching the many ballerinas I’ve seen dance this role change from being a delicate, bird-like white swan creature to the harsher, evil, black swan seductress. I like the mystical aspects of this work, the princess cursed to be a swan, the epic powers of the evil sorcerer. And I, being somewhat of a sucker at heart, like that part of the message is that you can’t fall only for the looks of someone, to truly love them you have to see past their appearance.

Swan Lake is performed, in one version or another, by many major ballet companies across the world. I definitely think it’s an important ballet to see and one to develop your own opinion on – do you love or hate it? Do you think, if you were Prince Siegfried, you’d love Odette or Odile? Would you have been able to tell them apart? These are just some of the many questions I like to think about when watching this ballet - and I encourage you to do the same!

You might also like:
Essential Viewing of Story Ballets- The Fourth Installment (Giselle)
Essential Viewing of Story Ballets- The Third Installment (Romeo & Juliet)
Essential Viewing of Story Ballets- The Second Installment (The Nutcracker)
Essential Viewing of Story Ballets- The First Installment (The Sleeping Beauty)