Moscow Ballet- swan lake

On Monday the 12th of March as part of this project I got to see Moscow Ballet version of Swan Lake. Act 1 starts with prince Siegfried arriving to his 21st birthday party. The prince had a black bodice and his friend had white I thought this was an odd choice because the white looked more prince royal and black is normally associated with evil. The court were all in a horrible peach colour but two of the female dancers trying to catch the princes attention were in a more subtle shade which I thought looked much better and more delicate. The dancing of the court and the prince was very technically good but the jester stole the show with his enthusiasm.

Act 2 when the prince meets the swan Odette for the first time I didn't get the sense that he was falling in love with her or that the swan was scared of him. The mime that explains how she became a swan was also missed out which was disappointing seeing as the Moscow ballet is suppose to be one of the best ballet companies in the world. When Von Rothbart appears to take the swan away once again he was technically very good but he didn't portray being powerful and evil very well. His purple velvet cape looked quite vibrant to the rest of his costume which I felt didn't work well.

Act 3 is when we first see Von Rothbert's daughter Odile. I thought this part was done better by the prima ballerina than the swan I felt the she danced the role more convincingly. Even though she was suppose to seducing the prince with her dance the male ballet dancer didn't give the impression that he was totally entranced by her. Also in the dance when Odette is suppose to be seducing the prince the choreography normally has 32 fouettes but sadly the ballet dancer didn't manage to do the full 32.

Act 4 when Odette and prince are finally together and die I felt that the whole scene was very messy and confusing because the core of dancers were covering Odette and the price at the back of the stage making it difficult to see what was going on. From seeing this performance I can now see the difference between a well performed and costumed ballet to one that isn't so well executed.