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Staatsballett Berlin via Staatsoper Unter den Linden YouTube channel has put up their 1999 recording of Patrice Bart's "Swan Lake", costumes by Luisa Spinatelli starring Steffi Scherzer and Oliver Matz, plus its conducted by Daniel Barenboim https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2E2d1nW1T8&t=6004s Its only up for 24hrs

Starting this thread perhaps a little early, but I've just noticed that the first night tomorrow starts at 7 PM, and hope everyone who has tickets has realized this!

If anyone has a spare SCS ticket for Swan Lake on Sunday 22nd March, now or closer to the performance I’d love to buy it. thanks Peter

If anyone is in Hampshire and has a spare three hours, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Swan Lake opened last night at The Mayflower theatre in Southampton. I won’t attempt a review such as the ones I read on here, but suffice to say it was thoroughly enjoyable. It received a well deserved 4 stars in the Guardian today. The ballet had a much darker feel to the productions I have seen previously. The sets and the costumes all adding to quite a sombre, somewhat oppressive atmosphere. I didn’t love Prince Siegfried, Principal Tyrone Singleton, his Prince was a bit dreary, but his lightness and control in the grande allegro enchainments were lovely. Celina Gittens Odette was gorgeous, her arms were delightful and her swan like quality was utterly believable. I thought I spied some Russian style arms and hands and indeed after reading the Guardian review I found out the production was from a 1981 revival by Peter Wright and Galina Samsova. My 11 year old son and I were most impressed by the swans, and the gorgeous cygnets. All their lines and formations were wonderful. The swans being slowly revealed from underneath the mist at the beginning of Act 4 was an audience ‘oohh’ and ‘ah’ moment. Carlos Acosta was in the same row as us watching the ballet, causing quite a commotion at each interval. Good to see him so visible as the new director of the company.

Selling a side SCS ticket for Swan Lake Tuesday 10 March (Takane/Bonelli) . It’s an email ticket. £11 Send a PM and leave a note here please.

I saw a very pleasant performance of Swan Lake this afternoon at the Liverpool Empire. I got tickets for my favourite seats at half price in the sale so for £17 inc fees I had a lovely afternoon! The company now uses a projected back- screen instead of scenery and I thought this worked well, although the flying swans were a bit amateurish and distracting. Anyone who knows the Liverpool Empire will know it has a pretty large stage, but somehow RSBS managed to make the stage look too small for them?! I felt the dancers were a bit tight for space at times when all they needed to do was pull the red curtain type side drapes (see pic below) they had at the sides back into the wings a bit and they would have had another 2 meters to play with. Or maybe they keep it tight so they dance to the same spec at every theatre seeing as they are touring to a large number of venues? Odette/Odile was very competently danced by Anastasiia Belonogova - she had very expressive arms and a rock solid technique when it came to the full set of fouettes and more in Act 3. Her Prince Siegfried was danced by Francisco Gimenez and he was very nice, even if he did land rather heavily from his jumps. Rothbart wasn't quite menacing enough for me but well enough danced by Egor Oskoin. They have a Benno in this production and this was nicely danced by Marcello Pelizzoni. I must single out the Act4 black swans for praise, my goodness they were SO precise in their moves and timing, dancing as one and when the "block" of dancers moved across the stage they kept their lines perfectly, not one put a foot wrong. Dare I say they were as good as the Mariinsky for precision this afternoon, amazing to watch them. In general all the swans kept very straight lines and moved pretty much together and the 4 cygnets did their dance really well. I particularly enjoyed the Spanish Dance in Act 3 and Odile's fouettes were just fabulous she hardly moved off the spot and knocked them out at speed as the orchestra really played fast! The ending to this Swan Lake is a bit sad as Siegfried jumps into the lake with Rothbart, leaving Odette all alone at the lakeside. Ahhh. It was a pity that the house was not full but it is fuller this evening, however they got plenty of applause and, in true Russian style, really milked every last clap out of the audience throughout the show LOL! The costumes were very pleasant and colourful and Odile's sparkling black tutu and red tiara were beautiful. The orchestra was only small but played really nicely, and at times (Act 3) really fast, under the baton of Anatoliy Chepurnoy who also had a sense of humour - he conducted the audience's applause when he came on at the start 🙂 His long frock coat had some black diamante on it which I thought was a nice touch! I like that this production combines Acts 1 and 2 into one half and Acts 3 and 4 into the second half with only one interval so total run time was 2.20. There are loads more performances in the Tour around the UK throughout this winter/spring so catch them if you can I would say. A few curtain call pics. Ensemble Egor Osokin, Anastasiia Belonogova, Anatoliy Chepurnoy and Francisco Gimenez Anastasiia Belonogova Anastasiia Belonogova and Francisco Gimenez

Anyone got a spare stalls circle standing or similar for Sunday Swan lake please??? Thanks Jules

I'm looking a for Stall Circle Standing or central Balcony Standing ticket for both Swan Lake 5th and 12th March. Thanks, Silke

My friend cannot make it to this performance so I’d like to resell this ticket. It’s the T61 in the Amphitheatre and costs £21. Date: Thursday, 5 March. Note that it’s an early start at 19:00. Cast: Nunez and Muntagirov. This is an e-ticket so can send you via email. Thanks!

I have a spare tkt for Swan Lake on Thursday 5th March 7pm (early start!): Amphitheatre seat L-67, £30 (fabulous Marianela Nunez and Vadim Muntagirov) I'll be there on the evening for tkt exchange Thanks, Silke

Selling Balcony standing side C-65 for Swan Lake 7:30 pm on Saturday 28th March: £11 Cast is Francesca Hayward, Cesar Corrales I'll be at ROH multiple times beforehand for exchange or I could leave the tkt at box office. Thanks, Silke

I know it's still a few months away but due to travel plans I'm now selling my Swan Lake ticket for Wednesday 15th April 19:30 It's in the Amphitheatre seat M 46, £30, cast for that night are Mayara Magri and Marcelino Sambé. Please send a PM if interested. Thanks, Silke

The season of performances opened tonight in Plymouth. All reviews and comments on here please. Over to you!

The casting is on BRB's website for the whole of the Spring Tour of Swan Lake!!! https://www.brb.org.uk/whats-on/event/swan-lake?utm_source=brb-facebook&utm_medium=post-video-casting&utm_campaign=swanlake-brb-tour#dates-and-times

Selling due to diary clash. Francesca Hayward and Cesar Corrales in Swan Lake, 8 April 2020, Ampitheatre E47, 48 £82 or ONO.

Bill Cooper, the photographer of this recently published book, and some Royal Ballet principals will be signing copies after the Manon rehearsal tomorrow (Tuesday, 1st October).

Well, I'm assuming that the run of the Bolshoi's Swan Lake starts at the Royal Opera House tonight, so here's your chance to discuss it in detail.

I apologise for the length of this post but would be interested to hear others’ opinions. Swan Lake is my favourite ballet. Maybe the reason is similar to that of a duckling attach itself to its earliest memory, whether it be a human or a wellington boot. It was the first ballet I ever experienced (at London Festival Ballet), and since then I’ve been hooked. And the sublime music was the first LP I ever bought. But there are so many Swan Lakes! I am about to see another next Saturday – I couldn’t resist the Zakharova/Rodkin combination even though this version isn’t my favourite. It is more abstract, with minimal mime and a rather abrupt ending, but I am sure the dancing will be transcendent and it will probably be my last chance to enjoy beautiful Svetlana in the role, given that she has passed her fortieth birthday. The best version I’ve seen is by (what was then) the Kirov, in their own theatre. Their scenery was just magical with a very realistic looking lake glimmering in the moonlight. The whole production was like an exquisite poem, with dancing to match. I still have the cast list somewhere but at the time didn’t recognise any of the names even though I can read Cyrillic script. The only thing I didn’t like was the overly happy ending. I thoroughly enjoyed the Royal Ballet older versions. Liam Scarlett’s new SL has some strong points (MacFarlane’s scenery is gorgeous) but I find Benno, Siegfried’s friend, irritatingly omnipresent whilst visually resembling some kind of bellboy. (For this role I prefer the Bolshoi jester who is terrific albeit perhaps less true to the original production.) I’m not sure about the late C19th costumes; for what is a fairy story I’d prefer the era to be more ambiguous. And why is Von Rothbart so visible at court, glowering melodramatically at the Prince who must surely be his social superior? And the ending is tragic but inappropriately uses the music which signifies triumph and positivity where Tchiakovsky changes the swan theme to a major key (suited to an Apotheosis). Then there is 26-year-old Nureyev’s version in which he dared to change a great deal of the choreography, and for which he and Fonteyn got a legendary 89 curtain calls in Vienna. This I have only seen on video of course. There have been many, many other productions by different companies all over the world, and I have seen a few of these too but none remains lodged firmly in my memory. None is perfect but all are worth watching for this Tchaikovsky addict. I never tire of this ballet. Do YOU have a favourite ‘Lebedinoye Ozero’? And if so, why?

Does anyone know what the parts are for juniors and seniors in swan Lake ? i have several pupils at casting day today . I’d like to be able to tell them a bit about their parts ! Presume seniors are swans ! Thank you

Just announced for next June: https://www.ballet.org.uk/production/swan-lake-round/

Spare ticket for Bolshoi at roh on aug 12th at 7:30 Stalls circle standing d11 cost £15 Any one interested please let me know Thanks

As a postscript to the recent discussion on 32 fouettés, here is a clip of Beryl Grey, probably while still a teenager, doing Black Swan/Odile with John Field (the reference in the Huntley archive says the film has sound but this poor quality YouTube sample is silent) More information would be welcome.

I saw Swan Lake on Sunday in Amsterdam. Odette/Odile - Maia Makhateli Siegfried - Daniel Camargo Rothbart - Jared Wright Alexander (Benno) - Semyon Velichko This Swan Lake was choreographed by Rudi Van Dantzig, after Petipa and Ivanov, and was beautifully staged with a lovely set and colourful costumes which enhanced the lovely peasant dances and the pas de trois of Act 1. There were also young dancers from the Ballet School in Act 1 which were very nice, but did make the stage seem rather crowded at times. I was looking out for, and pleased to see, Daniel Silva as one of the noblemen as he is known to a friend of mine and I must say he has a lovely line and an elegance to his dancing especially his hands and finishing of movements. The pas de trois was danced by Siegfried's friend Alexander (Semyon Velichko) with Daniel Camargo as Siegfried helping out in places. The 2 ladies were Yauanyaun Zhang and Aya Okumura who is actually to join Berlin next season. In this Swan Lake Odette represents Siegfried's high ideals and I was thrilled when I read Maia Makhateli was to dance the role of Odette/Odile in this performance as she is one of my favourite dancers. Maia did not disappoint and performed the role with great confidence and the right amount of empathy with Odette, as well as beautiful lines and arms. Maia is well partnered with Daniel Camargo and I have seen them dance together several times now. The swans all performed well with nice straight lines for the most part - and the 4 cygnets were great - I was pleased to see Riho Sakamoto in this piece. The 2 big swans were danced by Vera Tsyganova and Maria Chugai. On to Act 3 which was somewhat extended compared to most other Swan Lakes I have seen. Whilst it was colourful and well danced I found myself getting a little, dare I say it, bored?! The start of the Act features 6 princesses as would be brides for Siegfried, one of whom plays shy - yes it was funny, but was it really appropriate here hmm I'm not sure. I felt the drama that usually attaches to the entrance of Odile was lost a bit because of the over long pas de six. Odile seemed to arrive on stage quite well into the Act and I would have preferred to see her earlier and dance a bit more as a tease to Siegfried. The usual national dances were done - Spanish, Neapolitan and Hungarian Czardas, but the whole Act was somewhat dominated as I say by that overlong Pas de Six. It was nice to see Martin ten Kortenaar in the pd6 along with Floor Eimers and Timothy van Poucke who won the Alexandra Radius Prize this season. However when it finally, finally, came to the fouette section Maia Makhateli blew me away with her amazing, rock solid, tight fouettes, doubles mostly, and she must have whipped off close to 40 ending with huge applause from the audience. Then Camargo followed with his set of turns as well equally applause worthy and then he was finally betrayed - you could feel his shock and sorrow as Odile laughed in his face and dashed off stage with her Father. The final Act was beautifully danced by the corps de ballet swans in their various formations which were well executed. Siegfried meets Odette who forgives him. However he drowns despite defying Rothbart and Alexander finds Siegfried dead on the shore of the lake. Alexander carries Siegfried to the front of the stage and the curtains closed..... The orchestra were wonderful and conducted by Boris Gruzin. At 3.5 hours long this has to be the longest Swan Lake I have ever seen. That was certainly good value for money! It was worth the day trip to Amsterdam although that turned out to be a longer stay thanks to airline problems and I did not get home until the next day via London and trains up to Manchester Airport!! Some photos from the curtain call are below. Maia Makhateli and Daniel Camargo Boris Gruzin/Maia Makhateli/Daniel Camargo Ensemble of Swan Lake Some of the Swans at the curtain call - front centre is Riho Sakamoto.

The Russian State Ballet & Orchestra of Siberia are performing a collection of works across the UK at the moment including La Fille Mal Gardee, Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Giselle, Cinderella, Snow Maiden. I went to see La Fille Mal Gardee at Buxton Opera House tonight and was very satisfied and enjoyed the performance very much. Lise, Colas, and Widow Simone were Elena Svinko, Marcello Pelizzoni, and Pavel Kirchev. It was almost incomparable to the Birmingham Royal Ballet production (Ashton) I saw (for the first time) a couple of months ago at the Lowry Salford. No famous clog dance music, no ribbon promenade, no maypole. However it was full of great top quality dancing and wonderfully played music and had it's own set of highlights. The Widow Simone was extremely good, having more solo work than the the BRB version, Colas and Lise had more 'showy' pas de deux and solo work particularly in Act II and performed them with aplomb. The Esmeralda solo with tambourine is inserted into Lisa's solos in Act I. Then Act II ramped up the effects and bravura from the leads and the corps (coupe jetes, fouettes etc) so the stage and theatre fairly buzzed with lively, joyous, action. Some very nice umbrella work from the corps in the thunderstorm scene. My first trip to Buxton and being in the upper circle I could not see the strange rake of the stage that has been mentioned on this forum. I did think the stage small and saw one of the corps rather flinch and duck when Colas was doing his grand manege, and Lise almost fell into the orchestra pit at the end of a diagonal in one of her solos! Really have to compliment the orchestra they were terrific and got my feet tapping to the spirited music - something I hardly ever do. Yes overall it's not the quite at the level of the major UK companies, but I'd highly recommend this company based on this performance.

NEW ADVENTURES PRODUCTION OF MATTHEW BOURNE’S SWAN LAKE IN CINEMAS NATIONWIDE ON 21 MAY Running time 130 mins / BBFC TBC / Released in cinemas nationwide 21 May 2019 UK, London: Thursday 31 January 2019, 12.00noon – More2Screen is delighted to announce that the legendary and award-winning dance production, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, will be screened in cinemas nationwide on Tuesday 21 May 2019. Matthew Bourne commented: "I’m thrilled that this brand-new production of my Swan Lake will be in cinemas across the UK from 21 May. It has become a modern classic much beloved by the British public and throughout the world. Its popularity has never been greater and several generations of audiences have been inspired and moved by its universal story of love and acceptance. Now 24 years after Swan Lake was first performed more people than ever before will be able to experience the dramatic power and mesmerising performances on the big screen." New Adventures production of Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake comes to cinemas with a fresh look for the 21st century and is as daring and beautiful as ever. This thrilling, audacious and witty production is perhaps still best known for replacing the female corps-de-ballet with a menacing male ensemble, which shattered convention, turned tradition upside down and took the dance world by storm. Retaining the iconic elements of the original staging loved by millions around the world, Matthew Bourne and award-winning designers Lez Brotherston (Set & Costumes) and Paule Constable (Lighting) have created a stunning re-imagining of this classic New Adventures production. Filmed live at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London, in January 2019, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake stars Will Bozier as The Swan/The Stranger, Liam Mower as The Prince and Nicole Kabera as The Queen. Collecting over thirty international accolades including an Olivier Award and three Tonys on Broadway, Matthew Bourne’s powerful interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece is a passionate and contemporary Swan Lake for our times. Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake is directed for the screen by Ross MacGibbon and produced by Illuminations. It is being screened in cinemas worldwide by More2Screen, a leading Event Cinema distributor based in London. For more information and to book cinema tickets visit swanlakecinema.com #SwanLakeCinema ********* CREDITS Cast The Swan/The Stranger – Will Bozier The Prince – Liam Mower The Queen – Nicole Kabera The Girlfriend – Katrina Lyndon The Private Secretary – Glenn Graham Production Director & Choreographer – Matthew Bourne Set & Costumes – Lez Brotherston Lighting Designer – Paule Constable Sound Designer – Ken Hampton Music composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky NOTES TO EDITORS About Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures New Adventures is an iconic and ground-breaking British dance-theatre company, famous for telling stories with a unique theatrical twist. For over 30 years Matthew Bourne and New Adventures have delighted, inspired and nurtured people of all ages and backgrounds: audiences, artists and the next generation. We create world class productions and engaging projects, reaching thousands worldwide every year. New Adventures has received numerous international awards and an incredible 12 Olivier Award nominations, including 6 wins. Over the past 30 years New Adventures has created 11 full-length productions and a triple-bill of short works. This award-winning repertoire has inspired and thrilled millions of people worldwide. In 2019 the company premieres its 12th full-length production, Romeo and Juliet. Investing in the future of dance and theatre, New Adventures engages in inclusive projects with thousands of people of all ages and ability, as well as emerging artists across the UK and around the world. https://new-adventures.net/ About More2Screen More2Screen is a leading distributor of Event Cinema with an unparalleled reputation among its blue-chip partners for professionalism, responsiveness and the delivery of great cinema events to audiences around the world for a maximum commercial return. Founded in 2006 by CEO Christine Costello, it has been a global pioneer in the harnessing of digital technology to bring the very best in live music, performance arts and cultural entertainment to local cinema audiences. In collaboration with its stellar list of long-standing content partners, More2Screen has acted as consultants, producers and worldwide distributors in bringing over 150 ‘special event’ productions to its network of more than 7,000 cinemas in 65+ international territories. Its extensive catalogue of world-class productions from across the cultural spectrum is second to none and includes many sector ‘firsts’. More2Screen is proud to have been named Global Box Office Award winner in 2014, 2015 and 2018, and winner of the inaugural Best European Distributor award in 2015 (Event Cinema Association). A Screen International Screen Awards finalist in 2015, 2016 and 2017, More2Screen won the Screen Award ‘Event Cinema Campaign of the Year’ category in 2018 for the live broadcast of the musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. www.more2screen.com