What classical ballet tells the story of Odette who is turned into a creature by an evil sorcerer's curse?
"Swan Lake Swan Lake ( """"), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failure, it is now one of the most popular of all ballets. The scenario, initially in two acts, was fashioned from Russian and/or German folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger (Václav Reisinger). The ballet was premiered by the Bolshoi Ballet on at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Although it is presented in many different versions, most ballet"
"sorcerer, Von Rothbart, transforming them into swans by day. By night, they regain their human forms and can only be rescued if a young man swears eternal love and faithfulness to the Princess. When Prince Siegfried swears his love for Odette, the spell can be broken, but Siegfried is tricked into declaring his love for Von Rothbart's daughter, Odile, disguised by magic as Odette, and all seems lost. But the spell is finally broken when Siegfried and Odette drown themselves in a lake of tears, uniting them in death for all eternity. While the ballet's revival of 1895 depicted the"
"the ballet's villain changing from Odette's stepmother to the magician von Rothbart, and the ballet's finale: instead of the lovers simply drowning at the hand of Odette's stepmother as in the original 1877 scenario, Odette commits suicide by drowning herself, with Prince Siegfried choosing to die as well, rather than live without her, and soon the lovers' spirits are reunited in an ""apotheosis"". Aside from the revision of the libretto the ballet was changed from four acts to three—with Act II becoming Act I-Scene 2. All was ready by the beginning of 1895 and the ballet had its première on"
"bonds were destined to be broken by Odette. In the end, Odette is left in her bonds as a swan due to the prince’s misguided faithlessness. • Premiere on 27 October 1996 at the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen. • New York City Ballet opened on 29 April 1999. The sets were created by the Danish painter Per Kirkeby, who ""replaced opulence with a mood of impending disaster"" (Cahill). In this version of ""Swan Lake"" the sets suggest more of a painful feeling, with thorn bushes and cobwebs rather than a magical lake or a palace. Also, instead of using"
"the pet cat with which he is besotted. Its happy ending is reversed in Henri Sauguet's popular ballet ""La Chatte"" (1927). Here the goddess Aphrodite turns the woman back into a cat again after she leaves her lover to chase a mouse and he dies of disappointment. There had in fact been a much earlier ballet of ""La chatte metamorphosée en femme"", with music by Alexandre Montfort and choreography by Jean Coralli. This was first performed in 1837 with the Austrian dancer Fanny Elssler in the lead role. Not only did the work inspire Offenbach to write his opera but"
"ball, but the Prince refuses to marry any of them. Baron von Rothbart and his daughter, Odile, arrive. Siegfried thinks that Odile looks like Odette, but Benno doesn’t agree. Siegfried dances with Odile as he grows more and more enamored with her, and eventually agrees to marry her. At that moment, Rothbart transforms into a demon, Odile laughs, and a white swan wearing a crown appears in the window. The Prince runs out of the castle. Act 4: In tears, Odette tells her friends that Siegfried did not keep his vow of love. Seeing that Siegfried is coming, Odette’s friends"
"for the ballerina Pelageya Karpakova (also known as Polina Karpakova), who performed the role of Odette, with ""première danseur"" Victor Gillert as Prince Siegfried. Karpakova may also have danced the part Odile, although it is believed the ballet originally called for two different dancers. It is now common practice for the same ballerina to dance both Odette and Odile. The Russian ballerina Anna Sobeshchanskaya was originally cast as Odette, but was replaced when a governing official in Moscow complained about her, claiming she had accepted jewelry from him, only to then marry a fellow danseur and sell the pieces for"
"in death. Much has been made of Bourne's decision to cast men as the swans. The original ballet is a standard in the European tradition of romanticized female–male love. The heroine, the swan princess Odette, is portrayed as powerless but lovely in accordance with conventional gender roles, and her hero is portrayed as a hunter who alone has the power to save her. Having a man in the role of lead Swan suggests that the Prince's struggle has repressed gay love at its core, and changes the realm of the plot from magical to psychological. The fierce, bird-like choreography given"
"This sorcerer transformed Odette from a Princess into a swan, making true love the only thing that can break her bonds. Swan Lake (Martins) Swan Lake is a two-act ballet made by New York City Ballet (NYCB) ballet master in chief Peter Martins (after Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, and George Balanchine) to Tschaikovsky's eponymous music (1875–76). The premiere took place 27 October 1996, with the Royal Danish Ballet at the Royal Theatre, Copenhagen; the NYCB premiere was 29 April 1999 at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center. Peter Martins' wife, NYCB principal dancer Darci Kistler, chose to include the"
"""Beatrice"" rather than ""Berta"". The title role is undoubtedly the main focus of the ballet. She is a gentle water sprite who the audience discovers dancing in a waterfall and then with her own shadow. Her love for Palemon is deep, which is what makes his unfaithfulness so devastating and dramatic. The male lead is bewitched by the feminine allure of Ondine. He has never seen a creature as lovely as her and decides to marry Ondine, forsaking his betrothed, Beatrice (Berta). Similar to the Prince in Swan Lake, Palemon is destroyed by breaking the trust of his intended. She"
"April 1999. It had been previewed three years prior to it opening at the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen. Martins used the style of neo-classic choreography and it was more of a dark fairytale than whimsical. The only traditional component of this dance was the original Tchaikovsky music score. The roles portrayed in the ballet were more provocative and mysterious than in the 19th century original. As in most productions of the ballet, the ballerina that originally plays Odette also plays Odile, and for this role she is dressed in black and red tulle rather than white feathers. Prince Siegfried"
"enters and soon falls in love with Ilka. With the aid of the forest creatures, the Genie begs Ilka to become his queen. Upon learning that she has a human fiancé, the Genie threatens her and she falls faint again. Mortals are now approaching and the forest creatures withdraw. Peasants find Ilka. Among them is Josy, her intended, to whom she recounts her experiences with the Genie of the Forest. The ballet ends with rejoicing and dances. Taken from the published piano score of 1909 and Riccardo Drigo's memoirs. Ballet fantastique in one act The Enchanted Forest (ballet) La Forêt"
"He and his daughter Odille then plot to get Odette to forget Siegfried by getting him to fall in love with someone else—Odille. Odille, transformed in the guise of Odette, goes to the ball and wows Siegfried with her dancing. Siegfried does feel that there's something wrong but can't quite put his finger on what it is. Meanwhile, Odette manages to escape from Rothbart's castle with the help of Hans and Margarita, the squirrels, and runs to Siegfried's castle. But just as Odette is about to storm into the ballroom, Rothbart (who was there originally to watch Odille, transformed in"
"the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg. ""Giselle"" is a masterwork in the classical ballet performance canon. The ghost-filled ballet tells the tragic, romantic story of a beautiful young peasant girl who falls for the flirtations of the deceitful and disguised nobleman Albrecht. When the ruse is revealed, the fragile Giselle dies of heartbreak, and Albrecht must face the otherworldly consequences of his careless seduction. One of the world's most-often performed classical ballets, it is also one of its most challenging to dance. Librettists Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier took their inspiration for the plot from a prose passage"
"to the evolution of ballet technique. In 1940, San Francisco Ballet became the first American company to stage a complete production of ""Swan Lake"". The enormously successful production starred Lew Christensen as Prince Siegfried, Jacqueline Martin as Odette, and Janet Reed as Odile. Willam Christensen based his choreography on the Petipa-Ivanov production, turning to San Francisco's large population of Russian émigrés, headed by Princess and Prince Vasili Alexandrovich of Russia, to help him ensure that the production succeeded in its goal of preserving Russian culture in San Francisco. Several notable productions have diverged from the original and its 1895 revival:"
"""The Ugly Duckling"" by Hans Christian Andersen tells the story of a cygnet ostracised by his fellow barnyard fowl because of his perceived homeliness. To his delight (and to the surprise of others), he matures into a graceful swan, the most beautiful bird of all. In the famous ballet ""Swan Lake"", the main character, Princess Odette and her companions are turned into swans by a wicked spell. Today, the British Monarch retains the right to ownership of all unmarked mute swans in open water, but Queen Elizabeth II only exercises her ownership on certain stretches of the Thames and its"
"human form, except in Act III. He is usually shown as an owl-like creature. In most productions, the couple's sacrifice results in his destruction. However, there are versions in which he is triumphant. One example is the Bolshoi Ballet's version<nowiki></nowiki>, where he plays a wicked game of fate with Siegfried, which he wins at the end, causing Siegfried to lose everything. In the second American Ballet Theatre production of ""Swan Lake"", he is portrayed by two dancers: a young, handsome one who lures Odette to her doom in the prologue, and a reptilian creature. In this version, the lovers' suicide"
"A procession of the prospective brides and their parents. A general dance. Waltz of the brides. Scene 2 The Princess asks her son which of the young women pleases him most. Siegfried finds them all charming, but to none could he swear eternal love. Scene 3 Trumpets announce new guests: von Rothbart and his daughter Odile, transformed in the guise Odette. Siegfried is struck by her likeness to Odette and greets her enthusiastically. Odette, in the form of a white swan, appears at the window, warning her beloved of the evil genie's spell.. But attracted to the beauty of the"
"viewed as anything but an example of virtue. Jules Massenet's two-act ballet ""Cigale"", first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1904, portrays the cicada as a charitable woman who takes pity on ""La Pauvrette"" (the poor little one). But La Pauvrette, after being taken in and fed, is rude and heartless when the situation is reversed. Cigale is left to die in the snow at the close of the ballet. La Fontaine's poem has also been subverted by several French parodies. Tristan Corbière's ""A Marcelle - le poete et la cigale"" is a light-hearted literary criticism of a bad"
"new guest, he sees only her. The dances begin again. Scene 4 Siegfried's choice is made. Convinced that Odile and Odette are the same person, he chooses Odile, transformed in the guise of Odette, as his bride. Rothbart triumphantly takes Odile, his daughter's hand and gives it to the young man, who vows his eternal love. Siegfried then sees Odette, in the form of a white swan, at the window. He realises he has been deceived, but it is too late: the vow is spoken, Rothbart and Odile disappear. Odette must remain forever in the evil sorcerer, Rothbart's power; as"
"scenario was loosely based on a story by Charles Nodier, ""Trilby, ou Le lutin d'Argail,"" but swapped the genders of the protagonists — a goblin and a fisherman's wife of Nodier; a sylph and a farmer in the ballet. The scene of Old Madge's witchcraft which opens Act II of the ballet was inspired by Niccolò Paganini's ""Le Streghe"", which in its turn was inspired by a scene of witches from ""Il Noce di Benevento"" (The Walnut Tree of Benevento), an 1812 ballet by choreographer Salvatore Viganò and composer Franz Xaver Süssmayr. Emma Livry, one of the last ballerinas of"
"at sea, Ondine is lost overboard. Palemon survives the shipwreck created by the angry Ondines and believing Ondine is lost ends up marrying Berta. Ondine returns and is heartbroken when she discovers Palemon's unfaithfulness. When she kisses him, he dies and she brings his body back into the sea with her forever. In the published score, as with the title of the ballet, Henze also retained the original spellings of the character names. The London ballet production was given as ""Ondine"", but the score was titled ""Undine"", and names the lead character as ""Undine."" Henze also uses the original name"
"and a ballet. The opera would be ""Iolanta"". For the ballet, Tchaikovsky would again join forces with Marius Petipa, with whom he had collaborated on ""The Sleeping Beauty."" The material Petipa chose was an adaptation of E. T. A. Hoffmann's story ""The Nutcracker and the Mouse King"", by Alexandre Dumas called ""The Story of a Nutcracker"". The plot of Hoffmann's story (and Dumas' adaptation) was greatly simplified for the two-act ballet. Hoffmann's tale contains a long flashback story within its main plot titled ""The Tale of the Hard Nut"", which explains how the Prince was turned into the Nutcracker. This"
"to die while there is time. Siegfried swears to die with her. The evil genie vanishes in terror: death for the sake of Odette's love is his end. The unfortunate girl embraces Siegfried one last time, and runs to the cliff to jump from its height. The evil genie as an owl hovers over her, trying to change her into a swan. Siegfried rushes to her assistance, and with her throws himself into the lake. The owl falls, dead. APOTHEOSIS For the 2015–2016 season of the Zurich National Ballet, Russian choreographer, Alexei Ratmansky staged a reconstruction of the Petipa/Ivanov staging"
"Ondine, ou La naïade Ondine, ou La naïade is a ballet in three acts and six scenes with choreography by Jules Perrot, music by Cesare Pugni, and a libretto inspired by the novel ""Undine"" by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué. Pugni dedicated his score to Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge, a long-time balletomane and patron of the arts in London. Whilst the original London production used the title ""Ondine, ou La naïade"", Perrot staged a revival of the ballet under the title, ""La naïade et le pêcheur"", a title which was used for all subsequent productions of the ballet. The ballet"
"Cygnus. The story takes place in a small village, where Odette, a young girl passionate about ballet, lives with her father and sister and works in the family bakery. Odette is very talented in ballet, even though she has almost no training, and knows complicated routines and exquisite ballets. Her sister, Marie, is passionate about horse riding just as Odette is about ballet. As the story moves on, the men of the village go after a unicorn named Lila and try to hunt it down. With the help of Odette, the unicorn manages to escape the hunters and runs into"
"and enhance his theatrical conception"". The greatest changes that Perrot made to the basic plot were the change of location from the darkly evocative Danube to the sunnier shores of Sicily, and the transformation of the aristocratic Sir Huldbrand into the humble fisherman Matteo, while Undine's rival Bertalda became the orphan Giannina. In many ways, Perrot's ballet is more similar to René-Charles Guilbert de Pixerécourt's play of the story, ""Ondine, ou la Nymphe des Eaux"", which was first presented in Paris in 1830 while Perrot was also performing there. During his engagement as ""Premier Maître de Ballet"" of the St."
"Rothbart is keeping Odette captive at Swan Lake. He has cast a powerful spell that turns Odette into a swan during the day. At night, she can become human temporarily if she is on the lake when the moonlight touches it. Every night, Rothbart asks Odette to marry him so he can rule William's kingdom legally, but she refuses, then the moonlight leaves the lake, and she turns back into a swan. During her captivity, she befriends a turtle named Speed (Steven Wright), a French frog named Jean-Bob (John Cleese), who claims to be a prince, and an Irish puffin"
"cried so much over the death of Odette’s mother that he created the lake with his tears. Odette and her companions live in the lake with Odette’s grandfather, and can transform themselves into swans whenever they wish. Odette’s stepmother still wants to kill her, and stalks her in the form of an owl, but Odette has a crown which protects her from harm. When Odette gets married, the witch will lose the power to harm her. Siegfried falls in love with Odette but Odette fears that the witch will ruin their happiness. Act 3: Several young noblewomen dance at Siegfried’s"
"Mireille Hassenboehler Mireille Hassenboehler (born 1973) is an American former professional ballet dancer who performed as a principal dancer with the Houston Ballet until 2013. Hassenboehler was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. She trained with Harvey Hysell until the age of seventeen. After studying at the San Francisco Ballet School and Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy, she joined Houston Ballet in 1992 and was promoted to principal in 2000. Hassenboehler's classical repertoire includes: the Sugar Plum Fairy in ""The Nutcracker"", Aurora and Lilac Fairy in ""The Sleeping Beauty"", Odette/Odile in ""Swan Lake"", Giselle and Myrtha in ""Giselle"", Kitri in ""Don"
"the ballet. The music, recorded by conductor Richard Bonynge and available commercially, is astounding in its charm and vitality, if possibly outmoded for the date of composition. The ballet is rarely, if ever, revived and is not part of the standard ballet repertory. Cigale Cigale is a divertissement-ballet in two acts by Jules Massenet to a scenario by Henri Cain. It was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 4 February 1904. The story it's inspired by the fable The Grasshopper and the Ant, but it's totally different. In this case the grasshopper being a cicada and the ant"
"Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. Her mother was of Mexican ancestry. Cynthia Harvey Cynthia Harvey (born May 17, 1957) is an American dance teacher and former ballet dancer. She was a principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre. Harvey was born in California, and joined American Ballet Theatre in 1974. Her roles included Odette/Odile in ""Swan Lake"". While Mikhail Baryshnikov was the artistic director at ABT, he personally selected her to perform as the prima ballerina in Baryshnikov's filmed production of ""Don Quixote"". She was a principal of the Royal Ballet, and made guest appearances with other companies before"
"the opera and ballet until 1934. For the Sadler's Wells Ballet company, he composed two ballets to his own scenarios: ""Douanes"", in October 1932, a comedy set in a customs post described by ""The Times"" as ""delightful and amusing"", and, in 1934, ""The Haunted Ballroom"", which portrays the Masters of Treginnis who are cursed to dance themselves to death in a gloomy ancestral ballroom by the ghosts of the women whom they had loved. As in ""Ruddigore"", the curse is passed to the heir of the accursed. The piece makes ""imaginative... use of an eerie... chorus commentary"". ""The Haunted Ballroom"""