Swan Lake

The Revolution of Swan Lake

By Gracie Rosenheim

            Swan Lake is one of the most well known ballets through out the world, and yet very little people know the history about it. In the late 1800s Poytr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed music for many famous ballets, Swan Lake being one of them. The music contained many different tempos and sounds, but the music still flowed beautifully throughout the theatre. Once the music was composed, the ballet was soon choreographed by Julius Reisingner. He choreographed a full four acts, adding up to a total of three hours. Every other act, he went from the castle, then to the lake, and then to the castle again, and finally ending the show at the lake where Odette, the white swan, dies.    

            In the first act, Prince Siegfried is celebrating his birthday with                    
his tutor, friends, and peasant people. Every one at the party is having a wonderful time until the Queen comes to the party, with four ladies in waiting. She gives him a wooden cross bow for a birthday present, and tells Prince Siegfried that he must marry one of the ladies in waiting. The prince doesn't agree with what his mother says, which makes her leave. As she is walking away, she tells him the he must choose a bride before the royal ball the following evening. Once she leaves, the party continues, and the peasants dance along with the waltz couples. Slowly the guests start leaving, until only Prince Siegfried and his friends are with him. They see a flock of swans flying over head, and decide to take the Prince's new cross bow out, and go hunting for the swans.
            When act two begins, the Prince has been separated by his                friends. He finds a clearing by a lake, and decides to stay there. As he is waiting, the flock of swans he saw earlier, lands nearby the lake. He aims his cross bow at one of the swans, but freezes up when it turns into a beautiful lady. At first, the lady is terrified that he will hurt her, but when he says that he won't, she tells him that her name is Odette, and she is the Swan Queen. She explains to him that she and the other swans have been cursed by an evil sorcerer Van Rothbart, to be swans by day, and humans at night. She tells him that the only way the curse can be broken, is if someone who has never loved anyone else before promises to love her forever. As the night passes on, Siegfried soon realizes how powerful love is, and how much he loves Odette. It soon becomes dawn, and Odette and the other ladies turn back into swans.
            In act three, the guests are arriving at the royal ball. The queen has invited six princesses for Prince Siegfried to dance with, and after the last dance, he must choose one of the princesses to be his bride. The Prince dances with each bride, but he had no interest in it, because his heart is still set on Odette. The queen insists for him to choose a bride, but they get distracted when two unknown guests appear at the party dressed in black. The guests turn out to be Von Rothbart who transformed himself into a more dignified looking person, and his daughter Odile who is disguised as Odette. Once the guests from Spain, Italy, Russia, and Hungary dance for the court, Odile tries to trick Siegfried into betraying Odette. A reflection of the real Odette is shown upon the window to warn him to not get tricked by Odile, but Siegfried is so spellbound by Odile, so he declares to the guests that he will marry Odile. Triumphantly, Van Rothbart and Odile show Siegfried his betrayal to Odette. In shock, the Prince runs out of the castle in search of Odette.
             In the last act, Siegfried returns to the lake during a terrible storm created by Van Rothbart. Siegfried searches for Odette through the storm, and finally finds her. He begs for her forgiveness, but although she forgives him, there is nothing that can be done. Odette will remain a swan forever. Odette's heart has been broken, she knows that she will be sad forever, so she decides to die.
             For almost two-hundred years Swan Lake has been performed through out the world. But why is it still so popular? It is such a popular ballet, because it's not like any other love story. Every love story ends with a Prince marrying a Princess, but Swan Lake is one of the only love stories where the love ends up to be forbidden.  Swan Lake shows that even if you can have anything in the world, you can't always have love.    



SITES: 

"Swan Lake." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Feb. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2013.
Swan Lake. 16 Feb. 2013. The Oregon Ballet Theatre's Swan Lake program. The Keller Auditorium, Portland, OR.
"Google." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2013.
"Criticaldance Ballet-Dance Magazine: Oregon Ballet Theatre Swan Lake Review."Criticaldance Ballet-Dance Magazine: Oregon Ballet Theatre Swan Lake Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2013.