The Best Romantic Story On The Ballet Stage

Created more than a century ago, Swan Lake has become a favourite ballet of balletomanes all over the world. Young ballerinas are dreaming to put on white and black ballet costumes to dance the parts of Odette and Odile and lovers of classic music enjoy the best pieces by Tchaikovsky. Keep reading to learn the story of ballet.
In 1875 Vladimir Begichev asked a composer to write music for a ballet inspired by fairy-tales about swans. Legends about women, who turned into swans, are popular in many countries. The swan for many symbolises gracefulness and the word ‘gracefulness’ is often used in relation to ballet dancers, so it stands to reason why the tale about swans was used as a basis for a new ballet.

The first dancers, who wore ballet costumes in Swan Lake, considered Tchaikovsky’s music to be too difficult to dance to. Originally, the ballet was choreographed by the German choreographer Julius Reisinger but it became popular only after the revisions of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. The ballet premiered on the 4th of March 1877 at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. The main parts were performed by Pelageya Karpakova and Stanislav Gillert. The premier wasn’t successful; in 1880 Swan Lake was restaged by Joseph Hansen but it didn’t bring the ballet critics’ approval either. It was not until 1895 when Petipa and Ivanov transformed the choreography again and it turned to be a successful attempt.

It’s still challenging for ballet dancers to put on ballet costumes to portray the main characters. Once the Italian ballerina Pierina Legnani, known for performing 32 fouettes, danced the part of Odette and Odile, she became the icon for generations of ballerinas. In 1901 she retired from ballet and the role was given to Mathilde Kshesinskaya. Swan Lake has become one of the most exported Russian ballets; the troupe toured around Europe and the United States. Choreographers from all over the world reconsidered the choreography and the plot but all experiments were always measured against the original version.

The classic version opens with dancers in ballet costumes who celebrate the birthday of Prince Siegfried. After the party, the Prince heads to hunt and finds a lake with swans. He is enchanted with a beautiful white swan who apparently turns into a beautiful girl. Her name is Odette and she is the swan queen. She was turned into a swan by the evil sorcerer and becomes human only at night. She tells the Prince that a man with a pure heart can break the spell if he vows his love to her. Siegfried promises his love to Odette but gets cheated by von Rothbart. He wants Siegfried to marry his daughter Odile who is usually portrayed in black ballet costumes.

In the version of Ivanov and Petipa the ballet has a happy end when the love of Siegfried and Odette breaks the spell forever. Yet, in some other variations the betrayed swan queen is destined to eternal swanhood. No matter how the ballet ends, it remains one of the most romantic stories set on the ballet stage.