Swan Lake opens on Prince Siegfried's 21st birthday, with festivities arranged by some of his friends. But his aunt arrives to remind him that it is time for him to find a wife and that a ball has been scheduled, with a parade of potential fiancees from which he should choose a bride.
Siegfried decides to escape his royal obligations by going hunting, and he happens upon a flock of beautiful white swans at a nearby lake.
The swans are actually young women under the enchantment of an evil sorcerer, Von Rothbart. The prince falls for the lead swan, Odette, who informs him that only true love can break the curse. The prince vows undying love, but Von Rothbart has other plans.
The next night, the sorcerer crashes the prince's party along with his daughter Odile, the Black Swan, who so bewitches the prince that he asks her to marry him. Realizing his mistake, the prince flees the party in a bid to save Odette and do battle with Von Rothbart.
Hopefully, the company will exhibit one of the more unique features of the Smirnov-Golovanov's Swan Lake: Odile first appears in Act Two clad in a tutu that is half white, half black. Keeping her white side to the prince helps convince him that she is his beloved, while the audience sees her black side. Once the prince announces his love, she reappears triumphantly all in black.
This weekend the company is performing Swan Lake in Taichung, Yuanlin and Jhungli. The swans will alight in Taipei next Thursday and Friday.
On Tuesday and Wednesday Taipei audiences will have a chance to see something a little lighter: Cinderella.
Set to the music of Sergei Prokofiev, the two-act ballet by Smirnov-Golovanov retells the fairy tale of a young woman whose unhappy life of abuse by her stepmother and two stepsisters is changed with an invitation to a ball, the intervention of her fairy godmother, a prince and a glass slipper.
Once again there is a prince unwilling to marry because he hasn't found the girl of his dreams; once again a bit of magic helps true love prevail.
But Smirnov-Golovanov's production goes for the laughs, with many comedic interludes featuring a high-kicking stepmother, who flirts with the dancing master and the king, and her terrible daughters, who fight over everything and everybody.
The ballerinas cast as Cinderella have lots of lovely solos and a lift-filled duet with her prince that is almost guaranteed to have audiences holding their breath.
Performance notes:
What: The Moscow City Ballet
Times and venues: Tonight at 7:30pm at the Taichung County Cultural Center (
Tomorrow at 7:30pm at the Yuanlin Performance Hall (
Sunday at 7:30pm at the Jhungli Arts Center (
Tickets: NT$500 to NT$2,500, available through ERA Ticketing at www.ticket.com.tw.
Times and venues: Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30pm at the CKS Cultural Center, National Theater (
Tickets: NT$500 to NT$3,000, available through ERA Ticketing or the National Theater box office.
RSS