Dayton Ballet is beaming with pride to present Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s classic and stunning story ballet Swan Lake! For the first time ever, this full-length masterpiece will be performed on the Mead stage of the Schuster Center to live music performed by the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra.
The full professional Dayton Ballet company takes the stage with grace and athleticism for a presentation that will include, among other highlights, the full corps of 16 swans in the famous White Acts. What an incredible honor for the Dayton community to have this prestigious full-length ballet presented here by its own hometown ballet company. This epic event is a performance not to be missed!
Swan Lake will be performances:
8:00 pm Friday, March 9, 2018
8:00 pm Saturday, March 10, 2018
3:00 pm Sunday, March 11, 2018
During his lifetime, Tchaikovsky never supposed that his first ballet, Swan Lake, would enjoy any success whatsoever, and he surely could have never imagined the lofty place it has secured in the history of dance. First presented in 1877, the ballet was poorly received, as musicians and dancers alike struggled with the complexity of Tchaikovsky’s score. Swan Lake did not gain popularity until two years after Tchaikovsky’s death, when his brilliant work was paired with choreography from Marius Petipa, ballet master of St. Petersburg’s famous Maryinsky Theatre, and Petipa’s assistant Lev Ivanov. From that point on, Swan Lakehas been performed tens of thousands of times, with interpretations from the very classical to the most modern, in countless venues across the globe.
Dayton Ballet’s 2017–2018 production of Swan Lake presents original choreography by former Washington Ballet Artistic Director Septime Webre. Webre paired his original choreography with sections of the ballet that have been preserved from the original Petipa/Ivanov classic. The production retains the outline of the original story from 1877; however, Webre has changed the setting of the story to New York’s high society of 1912. In keeping with the era’s new-found fascination with the mind, this production heightens the story’s psychological themes. The otherworldly fairy tale reflects the internal struggle of the protagonist, Siegfried, between good and evil, represented by the white and black swans he imagines in his dreams. Come experience this beautiful standard of ballet’s classical repertory.
