Russia isn’t just known for taking over defenseless countries and meddling in the election affairs of others – it’s also known as a place where they really know their ballet.
In early November, area residents will get a chance to witness that for themselves when the Russian Ballet Theatre presents Swan Lake in Winston-Salem at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts Roger L. Stevens Center on Sunday, Nov. 3.
Tickets have now gone on sale for the event and a lot of highbrow dance aficionados in the area are very excited about it. The Russian Ballet Theatre is billing the show as “a breathtaking new production” of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.
One of the best-known ballets in the world – in fact, the only one that some people can name – Swan Lake has delighted audiences for over a century. The ballet, based on a German fairy tale, offers Tchaikovsky’s score and tells the tragic love story of Prince Siegfried and Swan Princess, Odette – who, if you don’t know, is cursed to be a swan by day but a young woman at night.
According to event promoters, the Russian Ballet Theatre’s new production will mix time-honored Russian traditions with new choreography, elaborate hand-painted sets, hand-sewn costumes and special effects.
Tchaikovsky was commissioned to compose Swan Lake in 1875 by Vladimir Petrovich Begichev, who was the intendant of Moscow’s Russian Imperial Theatres. Over the years, the dual role of Odette/Odile has been performed by most of the world’s leading ballerinas.
The Russian Ballet Theatre has put together an outstanding company of dancers for the 2019 tour of Swan Lake. It features Olga Kifyak as “Odette,” Evgeny Svetlitsa as “Prince Siegfried,” Mikhail Ovcharov as the “Jester” and Vasili Bogdan as “Rothbart.”
