The Swan Lake Ballet in St. Petersburg

It has been more than two years (exactly 2 years 2 months) since the time I landed up in Moscow in August 2005 but I could not watch the most famous ballet "The Swan Lake". Yesterday I got the opportunity to watch it but not at the famous Marinsky Theater in St. Petersburg but at the Theatre of Ballets and Operas that is located just opposite of the Marinsky on the Theatre Square. The reason is that Marinsky is always booked by the tourists and turns out to be very expensive for the city dwellers of St. Petersburg.

No doubt Swan Lake is one of the most famous ballets because it combines the opposites- soft and slow rhythms with hard and fast beats, good with the evil and a number of other opposites. There are a number of versions of this Ballet but in the one I saw yesterday, the evil sorcerer dies in the end and love triumphs. I was specially enchanted by the soft music of Tchaikovsky in the second act/scene of the ballet. The soft gliding movements of the ballerinas in white dresses offer a visual treat and soft music adds to the overall experience.

VERY BRIEF SYNOPSIS- A prince runs away to the forest because he is being asked to marry without love. He finds Odetta who turns into a swan in day but into a princess at night under the influence of the evil sorcerer. The prince falls in love with her but the clever sorcerer turns his own daughter into princess Odetta look alike and the Prince declares his love for her and wants to marry her but soon he realizes his mistake. Ultimately the prince unites with the real princess Odetta and sorcerer dies.

For more details- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Lake