Coppelia Ballet - Moscow Festival Ballet
Tuesday and Wednesday, February 16-17, 2010 @ 7:30 PM
Sponsored By: The Spectrum
The most elegant and beautiful of ballets will be presented at the Cox Performing Arts Theater. Tchaikovsky’s first ballet, Swan Lake is considered by many to be one of the greatest classical ballets of all time. Its romance and beauty has allowed the classic ballet to mesmerize audiences for more than 100 years. This classical ballet is technically challenging and emotionally moving with music composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Although Swan Lake was Tchaikovsky's first ballet score, the first production in Moscow wasn't well-received. Although several versions exist, most ballet companies stage the ballet according to the choreography of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov for their St. Petersburg performance in 1895. The first American production was performed by the San Francisco Ballet. Swan Lake is traditionally presented in four acts.
The Moscow Festival Ballet features leading dancers from across Russia and brings together the highest classical elements of the great Bolshoi and Kirov Ballet companies within the framework of Russian classical ballet. The presentation at the Cox Auditorium will feature beautiful scenery, gorgeous period costumes and some of the best dancers in the world.
The story of Swan Lake begins when Prince Siegfried turns 21 and his mother tells him it’s time to arrange his marriage. He takes off on a hunting trip with his friends and comes across a lake full of beautiful swans were he falls in love with the Swan Queen Odette. An evil sorcerer has placed a spell on her which can only be broken when a man pledges his love for her.
The Prince’s mother hosts a royal ball so that the Prince can choose a wife, only to have the sorcerer arrive with his daughter Odile who the Prince believes is Odette and confesses his love for her. The real Odette sees this and flees back to the lake, soon followed by the Prince. The sorcerer interrupts the reunion and tells the Prince that he must marry his daughter. The Prince refuses and takes Odette’s hand and they both jump into the lake.
