BALLET Ireland, having sold out the concert hall last year with Swan Lake, returns with the same production to UCH on Thursday December 18, 8pm. Having achieved critical acclaim for this most beautiful ballet, it’s hard to believe Swan Lake began life as a puddle.
In 1875, Tchaikovsky was approached by the directorate of the Moscow Ballet with a commission for a score. This was for Swan Lake, a work which he accepted, he wrote, “partly because I want the money and partly because I have long wanted to try my hand at this type of music”.
The first production in 1877 was not a success, neither were subsequent efforts in 1880 and 1882. It was the death of the composer in October 1893 which precipitated a first St Petersburg ballet production, when for a memorial concert in February 1894, the second act of the ballet was staged in choreography by Lev Ivanov.
Later, Swan Lake’s score was edited and the scenario revised. The full scale staging subsequently mounted by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov in January 1895 is the basis of the Swan Lake we know today.
Ballet Ireland first mounted Swan Lake in Spring 2001 and has chosen this ballet to celebrate the company’s 10th anniversary. Described by Carolyn Swift in the Irish Times as “a landmark for Ballet Ireland and for Irish ballet”, this 2008 production features Canadian dancer Eric Burrough and Ballet Ireland’s own principal ballerina Ryoko Yagyu, who delighted everyone as Clara in last years Nutcracker.
Try booking online on www.uch.ie
