Dance "Swan Lake"

A ballet in four acts, composed in 1876. The story is based on an ancient Russian fairy tale, written by Begichev and Geritsel. It is one of Tchaikovsky's most famous dance masterpieces. Due to the mediocre creation of the original choreographer and the inexperience of the band conductor, the premiere on February 20, 1877 failed. It was not until 1895 that the reprinted performance in Petersburg achieved astonishing success and has since become a classic of world ballet.

Plot introduction

Because Tchaikovsky's dance music is so charming, many choreographers in different periods have made different choreography for "Swan Lake" , its plot also has many differences. Here we introduce the most classic versions, namely those by three Russian (or former Soviet) choreographers: M. Petipa, L. Ivanov and K. Sergeyev.

Introduction

Princess Odette, who was picking flowers by the lake, was turned into a swan by a vicious spell cast by the evil demon Lord Rothbart. She can only return to her human form at night. Only faithful love can break the evil spell.

Act 1

A grand Prince Ziegfeld’s coming-of-age ball was held in the ancient castle. At the meeting, the prince's friends were all very happy about the prince's coming of age. Later, the queen mother arrived and happily awarded the prince a crossbow, the symbol of adulthood, and told the prince that a banquet would be held for the prince in a few days to choose a princess for him. But the prince was unhappy and didn't know if he could find true love. It was evening after the dance ended. The prince left the others and went to the wild alone. Suddenly he heard the sad cry of swans in the sky. He was very curious and chased the swans with his crossbow.

Act 2

The prince chased the swan to the lake and attracted the attention of the devil Rothbart. Suddenly a swan approached. The prince raised his crossbow and was about to shoot. He was surprised to see a dignified and noble swan slowly transform into a beautiful Tingting girl. The beautiful girl told the handsome prince her tragic life experience. It turns out that she is a princess named Odette, and the evil devil turned her and her companions into swans. The prince was moved by the princess's life experience and beauty, and fell deeply in love with her, vowing to rescue her and her companions from their suffering. The two were having an intimate conversation when the devil suddenly appeared and used his magic to turn the princess and her companions back into swans. Before the transformation, the princess once again reminded the prince that he must be loyal to his oath. Finally, the prince watched the princess who turned into a swan fly away sadly, and then returned to the palace.

Act 3

A few days later, princesses from all over the world gathered in the ballroom of the castle, and the queen told the prince to choose a fiancée from them. The princesses danced to please the prince, but the prince's thoughts were not on them and he refused to make a choice. Just when the queen didn't understand why the prince didn't make a choice, a loud trumpet sounded, and two uninvited guests came in. They are the disguised envoys of the demon Lord Rothbart and his daughter Odelia. Rothbart turns Odelia into a swan too—but a black swan. The prince is seduced by the female guest who looks like Odette and thinks that Odelia is Odette. The Devil and Odelia took the opportunity to seduce and deceive the prince again, until the prince took the token from the queen and handed it to Odelia, announcing that she was his fiancée. Suddenly Odette appeared at the window, and the prince immediately understood that he had been deceived, but it was too late. The devil arrogantly reminded the prince that Odelia was his fiancée, and quickly left the venue. The venue fell into chaos. Regardless of the dissuasion of the queen and friends, the desperate prince rushed out of the palace and ran to the Swan Lake.

Act 4

The swans were anxiously waiting for news about Odette, but they saw Odette returning to the Swan Lake and was heartbroken. The devil created a blizzard to prevent the prince from going to find Odette, but the prince finally ran to the lake in the rain. When the swans saw the prince who broke their oath, they were very indifferent to him, and hid Odette among them to prevent her from getting close to the prince. The prince was filled with remorse and fell on the ground and sincerely apologized to Odette.

Odette was also moved, and the two reconciled again. This was the sudden appearance of the devil. He was very angry with the love between the prince and the princess, so he used his magic to create a storm and tried to drown all the swans. The angry prince fought with the devil, but the power of love finally emerged and the devil was defeated. Odette and her companions are restored to their human form. They lived happily ever after.

As mentioned above, the choreography version of Swan Lake is very complicated, so the plot may be somewhat different. For example, in a boring version, some boring worldly plots were added to the first act, such as the promiscuous woman, the prince drinking during the mourning period, the mother hating the iron, etc., etc., I will not go into details one by one. Perhaps the biggest difference between the versions is the ending. In some versions, the ending is that the prince and the princess both throw themselves into the lake, and the power of love defeats the devil; in another version, the princess sacrifices for the swans; and in the most unacceptable version, the prince is deceived by the devil, and finally love His strength failed to defeat the devil, the prince was drowned, and the princess was kidnapped by the devil... everything should be there, and everything. However, the version presented is the most commonly performed version and so should satisfy the needs of the vast majority of audiences.