Swan Lake

First performed in Moscow in 1877, Swan Lake has ever since been an indispensable, enduring and beloved part of the classical ballet repertoire. The mythic, archetypal appeal of its themes and story, Tchaikovsky’s gloriously portentous, heart-flooding music and the intricate yet fervent elaborations of its choreography have always combined to make it one of the unassailable monuments of European tragic art.

James Kudelka’s 1999 version of the ballet adheres to its essentially fable-like nature, but locates a new and rich trove of thematic implications in the material. At the same time, Kudelka’s masterful choreographic gifts recast the balance in the ballet between the sensual and the lyrical, and reinforce the tension between innocence and experience, and the natural and the supernatural, that predominates in the story. Never sacrificing any of the ballet’s strange allure, symbolic fascination and power, Kudelka yet re-thinks the material for a contemporary audience. Santo Loquasto’s superbly evocative sets and costumes provide the perfect setting for a work of arresting beauty.