Ballet de Santiago Swan Lake

Ballet de Santiago Swan Lake description

About the Show

Prince Siegfried is told he must choose a bride. That night he meets Odette by a lake, one of a company of women turned into swans by the sorcerer von Rothbart, released from the spell only between dusk and dawn. He swears to love her alone, which would break it. At the ball where he is to choose, Rothbart presents his own daughter Odile in Odette's likeness, and Siegfried gives his vow to the wrong woman.

Ballet de Santiago is the resident company of the Municipal de Santiago, Ópera Nacional de Chile, now in its 66th year and among the leading ballet companies in Latin America. These performances are its first in the United Kingdom, and the score is played live by the English National Opera Orchestra. The Irish Times gave the production four stars when the company danced it in Dublin, calling it "the most beguiling swan Dublin has seen in years".

Cast and Creatives

The production is staged by Ivan Nagy and Marilyn Burr, based on the original choreography of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, to the score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Nagy, a Hungarian dancer who was a principal with American Ballet Theatre before turning to direction, created this version while leading Ballet de Santiago himself.

The company is led by artistic director César Morales, who trained at the Municipal de Santiago's ballet school and at Houston Ballet, spent sixteen years as a principal with Birmingham Royal Ballet and also danced as a principal with English National Ballet before returning to Chile in 2024. Casting for the London performances has not yet been announced.

Why You Should Watch It

It is the most familiar ballet in the repertoire, danced by a company British audiences have never seen, with a live orchestra in an opera house built for it. Book tickets for Swan Lake.

Playing at London Coliseum (venue info)