How many swans are in the ballet "Swan Lake"?
First you need to figure out what role the swans play in the ballet "Swan Lake", and also - who are they?
Swan Lake is a ballet in four acts, the music for which was written by the brilliant composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It is difficult to find a work that has such a difficult stage fate, but at the same time has earned fame all over the world.
Swan Lake had three production versions, among which the first two were unsuccessful. And the third became the basis of all editions of the ballet that followed it, and brought the work a dizzying success and immortality, made it a symbol of ballet art. And this despite the fact that the production did not meet all the laws of academic choreography!
The plot is based on folklore (folk) motifs, which were used both in literary works and in opera and ballet librettos.
The beautiful girl Odette is bewitched by the evil wizard Rothbart. During the day, she is a white swan, and when night falls, she turns into a man. She is surrounded by the same enchanted swans-girls who call Odette their queen - for her kindness and beautiful soul.
Legend says that Odette's mother shed many tears for her kidnapped daughter. She cried so long and hard that a magical “swan lake” was formed from her tears, where the swan daughter settled.
The magic of the evil sorcerer can only be broken if the beautiful swan girl is loved by a young man, and his love is true. If he breaks the oath of eternal love, Odette will not be able to become a man again and will forever remain a white swan.
In four pictures of the work, real pictures alternate with fantastic ones. Prince Siegfried celebrates his coming of age in the palace park with his friends. A flock of swans, which flies over them at this time, beckons the prince to follow him. And he doesn't resist it. Finding himself on the shore of a forest lake, Siegfried finds a beautiful swan with a crown on his head. This is Odette, whose beauty captivates the prince. The girl's story about the evil owner of the lake - Rothbart, who is pursuing her, shocked the prince. He swears eternal love to Odette.
The prince's mother insists that he choose a bride for himself at the ball. The first beauties dance before him. Here are the Spanish and Neapolitan, but the Hungarian and Polish national dances. But nothing touches or excites Siegfried. However, when Odile appears, the prince chooses her because he sees Odette in her. Very quickly, he realizes that he made an irreparable mistake.
Siegfried rushes to the lake hoping to get Odette's forgiveness. But his prayers lead to nothing, forgiveness is not granted. Then the prince tears off the crown from the head of the swan girl, which served as her protection from persecution, and challenges the owner of the lake, the magician Rothbart. It is his image that is the personification of the forces of evil and fate in the ballet.
Siegfried's hope does not die that Odette will go with him to the world of people. But this does not happen, and the raging waves of the "swan" lake absorb both the prince and Odette.
How many swans are in the ballet "Swan Lake"?
In real life, a flock of swans has from 15 to 20 individuals, but there are flocks of 50 or more birds.
How many swans can be used in a ballet? The number is limited by the size of the scene. For example, in the Moscow Bolshoi Theater of Swan Ballerinas, who participate in crowd scenes during a performance, there are approximately 25 to 30 people. On the stages of other theaters, the number varies between 9 and 20 ballerinas.
Why exactly 4 little swans?
In a real swan flock, there are few small swans - about a third of the total number of birds. Why in the ballet the scene "Dance of the Little Swans" is performed by four swans?
Everything is quite simple: it was originally conceived according to the script. In the 1877 production, four actresses danced. All subsequent productions were repelled from this quantity. Although there were examples when the "Dance of the Little Swans" was performed by three ballerinas, as well as more than four.
Screen adaptation
In 1953-1954, director Herbert Rappoport created a film about ballets and ballet dancers of the Kirov Theater in Leningrad called "Masters of Russian Ballet".
Fragments from the work "Swan Lake", as well as from the ballets "The Fountain of Bakhchisaray" and "The Flames of Paris" staged by the Kirov Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater (this was the name of the Mariinsky Theater in the Soviet Union) were included in this film as the greatest masterpieces of Soviet ballet art .
Interesting facts about the ballet "Swan Lake"
During the Soviet era, the ballet "Swan Lake" was included in the list of achievements of the ruling regime. And although classical ballet passed, figuratively speaking, “by inheritance” to the Soviet authorities from the imperial troupe, it was declared an achievement of the “national economy”. That is why ballet at that time was a means of political struggle. High-ranking guests from around the world were invited to ballet performances, this was part of the mandatory cultural program.
The popularity of the ballet "Swan Lake" was huge. However, serious political events in the USSR are also connected with it. In the Soviet Union and on the territory of the post-Soviet space, the demonstration of the work "Swan Lake" on TV at the Bolshoi Theater was a sign of the political changes taking place in the life of the country! The ballet was shown during the period of mourning and the funeral of the General Secretaries of the Central Committee of the CPSU Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Konstantin Chernenko.
The performance-ballet "Swan Lake" has become a symbol of another period, which is associated with Gorbachev's Perestroika. During the August putsch of 1991, when representatives of the self-proclaimed headquarters of the State Emergency Committee (GKChP) tried to remove Mikhail Gorbachev from the post of President of the USSR by force, the ballet "Swan Lake" was broadcast on all television channels for three days (!) All prepared programs for August 18-21 were urgently taken off the air and replaced by this work in order to somehow divert the attention of the people.
The coup was defeated, but the play "Swan Lake" became one of its most memorable symbols. This did not affect the popularity of the ballet at all, and it confidently continues its stage life today.