Swan Lake – Courtesy of Moonbug Photography. Used with permission.
Swan Lake – Courtesy of Moonbug Photography. Used with permission.
For a second consecutive year, the Indianapolis Ballet, founded by IB Artistic Director Victoria Lyras, teamed up with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Everly, to stage a world class production. Last year it was “Romeo & Juliet.” This year it was a stunning presentation of Tchaikovsky’s timeless ballet, “Swan Lake.” The sold-out performance I witnessed was Saturday evening. at Clowes Memorial Hall
One of the most enduring works of the classical repertoire, “Swan Lake” is a timeless love story that mixes magic, romance and tragedy and is told in four acts. It features Prince Siegfried (Luxumberg Santana) and Princess Odette Yoshiko Kamikusa), who is cursed to live as a swan by Baron Von Rothbar (Paul Vitali) an evil sorcerer. The prince encounters Odette while hunting and falls in love with her, pledging to break the spell that makes her a prisoner of the lake.
Swan Lake – Courtesy of Moonbug Photography. Used with permission.
“Swan Lake” was one of Tchaikovsky’s three major ballets. He composed it in 1875, and it remains as a favorite with ballet companies worldwide. It premiered in 1877 at the Bolshoi in Moscow. In 1895 Marius Pepita and Lev Ivanov reworked the choreography with composer Ricardo Rigo and this version is still the most popular with world-wide companies. In this Indianapolis Ballet production, Lyras, a former dancer, contributed to the choreography.
The Indy Ballet production itself, with its lavish costumes and gorgeous sets, was near flawless in its execution and presentation. The entire company and the ISO demonstrated both technical and artistic excellence in their respective art forms. The dancers reflected a high caliber of expertise, power and strength with the principals Kamisuka and Santana shining in their role. The ISO under the baton of Everly who at one time conducted the American Ballet Theatre orchestra, was an ideal maestro to lead the musicians in their moving interpretation of the ballet’s iconic score with its many recognizable movements. The combination of the two esteemed groups performing on such a grand scale made for a stellar evening of emotional satisfaction and pure entertainment.
Swan Lake – Courtesy of Moonbug Photography. Used with permission.
Regarding the audience make up, I could not help but notice the number of families with children present with very few people of color in attendance. From a purely anecdotal standpoint, I also was aware that many who attended were dressed casually. They were certainly not your stereotypical fans of what has always been considered a high-brow, inaccessible art form. As both Indy Ballet and ISO seek to widen their audiences as well develop new ones, it bodes well for their organizations to pursue them. Hopefully we can expect an annual collaboration that shows off the best of two of Indy’s leading cultural institutions.
