About Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
Scheduled to be held at the Benedum Center, the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre has been showcasing presentations of the popular classic ballet for over four decades. Formed in 1968, the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre is a professional American ballet organization that was established by Nicolas Petrov, a Yugoslavian choreographer. Initially presenting small ballet version of the famous “The Nutcracker”, Nicholas’ company started growing in terms of popularity and size. Within a few years of its inception, the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre had 85 talented dancers that were a part of it.
The ballet organization boasts of a massive repertory that consists of productions like Alice in Wonderland, Apollo, Carmen, Cinderella, Don Quixote, Dracula, the Great Gatsby, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Madame Butterfly, the Nutcracker, Peter Pan, Romeo & Juliet, the Sleeping Beauty, Sunset and the Three Musketeers. The current season of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre will present productions namely the Nutcracker, Swan Lake, 3X3 and Don Quixote.
Introducing Swan Lake
Swan Lake is a Russian Ballet that was written by the popular Pyotr IIyich Tchaikovsky in 1876. Composed in Russian, the premier production of the ballet took place in 1877 with Julius Reisinger as the show’s choreographer. The show was held at the Bolshoi Theatre located in Moscow. Over the years several revival productions have made their way to the theatre. The first revival show was held in 1895. The production used a revised score from the original Tchaikovsky’s composition and was held at the Mariinsky Theatre located in St. Petersburg. Tchaikovsky’s compositions took influences from the abandoned opera of 1868 titled “The Voyevoda”.
Synopsis of Swan Lake
The story of Swan Lake presents the main characters of Odette the beautiful Princess, Prince Siegfried, Von Rothbart, the evil sorcerer, and Odile Rothbart’s daughter. Act 1 presents a lavish ball thrown in order to celebrate the birthday of Prince Siegfried. At the celebration, the Queen invites every eligible maiden to the ball, so that the Prince can choose a bride for himself. Upset that he is being forced to choose a girl, the Prince leaves the party and goes on a hunting trip. In act 2, the prince is seen wandering off deep into the forest, where he comes across a lake. Upon setting his sight on the water, the prince sees a flock of beautiful swans nearby. Picking up his bow to make shoot his target, Siegfried is taken aback when the swans transform into maidens. Setting his eyes upon the women, Siegfried sees Odette for the first time and immediately falls in love with her.
Odette informs him about the curse, the evil sorcerer Rothbart has placed on her and her friends. The Prince vows to free her off the spell and makes his way back to the palace to devise a plan. Odette informs him that the curse will only be broken if Siegfried proves his love for her in front of the whole world. Siegfried then calls upon his servants and subordinates to hold a ball like none other and decides to claim his love in front of the entire community. However, Rothbart still has a few tricks up his sleeve. He transforms his daughter, Odile into Odette through black magic and sends her off to the ball. Will the Prince claim his love for the wrong person or will he be reunited with his one true love?