"Swan Lake" had its first night in december 1997. The fact, that all the performances thus far have been sold out, and that a live telecast was seen in more than one hundred French cinemas by approximately 80,000 people, gives an idea, how successful this production has been.
Patrice Bart, associate director of Paris Opéra Ballet, mounted this "Swan Lake", and modified the story. In his version, Prince Siegfried is a sensitive young man who is besieged by expressions of love and desire from his dominant mother, the Queen, and from his close friend, Benno. He wonders, if he is able to truly love anyone. Only Odette, a creature between a woman and a swan, who comes from another world, fascinates him. The Queen an Benno advance in Bart’s psychoanalytical but elegant and unsugary "Swan Lake" to become principal characters with substantial dancing roles. The jealous mother; her prime minister, Rotbart; and Benno hatch a scheme against the lovers with Rotbart’s daughter, Odile, as the tool. Siegfried recognizes the conspiracy too late and follows his beloved Odette to death.
The story takes place around 1900 at the court of Nicholas II, Russia’s last czar. Designer Luisa Spinatelli has created decor and costumes in the spirit of art nouveau. Stylistically, both „white“ lakeside scenes in this two-act version remain almost untouched, while the two scenes set at court include a lot of tricky, nimble-footed dances for large groups. Bart tells the story as logically as one can in ballet, and choreographs with sensitive musicality without being a slave on Tchaikovsky’s score.

Volkmar Draeger
Dance Magazine Review May 1998


45 minutes before each performance (except premieres), there is an introduction in the opera house.
It is prepared and moderated by students of the institute of dance studies (Institut für Tanzwissenschaft) of Freie Universität Berlin.
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