‘Swan Lake’ pirouettes into Dubai Opera

Some loves burn bright – and only for a short while. In Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake, the epic love of Prince Siegfried and Odette, Queen of the Swans, must shatter like glass meeting stone when it’s confronted by the evil sorcerer Baron von Rothbart.

See the tragic tale – recreated by the 137-year-old ballet company Hungarian National Ballet – on the Dubai Opera stage between September 8 and 10.

In Swan Lake, Prince Siegfried falls in love with Odette, Queen of the Swans, who has been cursed to be a swan during the day and only return to her true form at night. When the sorcerer comes to learn of their dalliance, he sends in his daughter, Odile, as the black swan who looks exactly like Odette. Prince Siegfried is duped into thinking Odile is Odette, and in doing so condemns the real Odette to death.

Surprisingly, Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, which first saw a performance in 1877, was a flop because of its choreography. It was adapted by Rudi van Dantzig and Toer van Schayk in 1988 for the Hungarian National Ballet, and this is the version that comes to the Dubai Opera stage alongside Tchaikovsky’s hauntingly beautiful score.

The details

‘Swan Lake’ plays out at Dubai Opera from September 8 to 10. Tickets start at Dh300.