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The Swan Lake ballet was first staged in Moscow, Russia, nearly 150 years ago, yet the love story remains a classic today.
Monike Cristina (Joburg Ballet) and Sasha Barnes (Cape Town City Ballet) SWAN LAKE (2025). Picture: Lauge Sorensen 06
The Swan Lake ballet was first staged in Moscow, Russia, nearly 150 years ago, yet the love story remains a classic today.
For the first time in 30 years, the play will tour South Africa this year, being staged in four cities.
The tour is a result of a partnership between the Joburg Ballet and Cape Town City Ballet.
“Joburg Ballet is thrilled to be partnering with Cape Town City Ballet for the upcoming national tour,” said Joburg Ballet CEO Elroy Fillis-Bell.
The four-city national tour opens at the Joburg Theatre on Friday, 4 July, with performances running until Sunday, 13 July.
The Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra will play Tchaikovsky’s iconic Swan Lake score for the Johannesburg season.
The production then moves to The Playhouse in Durban for performances on 18, 19, and 20 July, together with the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra. It continues at the Sand du Plessis Theatre in Bloemfontein on 24, 25, and 26 July in partnership with the Free State Symphony Orchestra.
The Swan Lake national tour concludes with performances at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on 1, 2 and 3 August together with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra.
“With much anticipation, we look forward to this exciting and meaningful collaboration, a celebration of appreciation and unity within this unique and powerful artform,” Cape Town City Ballet’s Artistic Manager, Tracy Li said, echoing Fillis-Bell.
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Similar to other tales about love, such as Romeo and Juliet or modern romances, like The Notebook and Titanic, Swan Lake is considered a classic love story.
Swan Lake follows the life of Princess Odette, who is cursed by the cunning Baron Von Rothbart and is transformed into a swan, condemned to the lakeside. The spell is breakable only by true love.
Prince Siegfried meets Odette as a swan and professes his love for her. But through Rothbart’s scheming Siegfried is further tricked into betraying Odette by professing his love for Odile, the deceptive Black Swan.
Odette forgives Siegfried but is so crushed by his betrayal that she fatally throws herself into the lake.
Distressed, Siegfried decides to follow his true love to death. This tragic final act of love breaks Rothbart’s evil spell and allows Odette and Siegfried to unite in eternal love.
“Swan Lake is a breathtakingly beautiful full-length classic,” said Li.
Joburg Ballet’s Fillis-Bell said the tour gives the theatres an opportunity to “present a production of one of the great classical ballets on a scale appropriate to the classical tradition.”
The production of Swan Lake that the two companies will dance was originally staged in Cape Town by French dancer Attilio Labis in 1971.
Acclaimed SA choreographer Veronica Paeper will be responsible for restaging the ballet for the national tour.
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