Swan Lake

Swan Lake
Russian National Ballet Theater
PACE Center
Parker, CO
February 19, 2015

Prior to this evening, I have only seen professional ballet presented by the Colorado Ballet. And while their company has many Russian dancers in it, there is something very exciting about seeing a company from Russia. Apparently I am not the only one who thinks so because the performance has been sold out for months.

The performance has everything you would expect, stunning costumes and fantastic dancing. The PACE Center might be too intimate a venue to see a production like this, it was hard to view the stage as a whole. I also missed the narrative cues the Ellie Caulkins Theater provides throughout the performance. And since there was no synopsis in the program, the audience was expected to know the storyline.

Despite Swan Lake being a renowned ballet, the story is not universally known. Fortunately one of our neighbors shared the synopsis they brought with them, otherwise I would have been lost. It is a stretch that the prince would mistake the voluptuous blonde black swan for the anorexicly thin brunette white swan. But that is what the audience is asked to believe.

Despite the far fetched casting, the dancing was beautiful. Even as a casual ballet patron I could tell the difficulty level was high. It was exciting to watch a company of dancers who clearly live up to their national reputation.