Hope’s Insights on Swan Lake

Thank you for joining us as we give our first performances of Swan Lake since Artistic Director Emerita Karen Kain unveiled her new staging in 2022. For this totally sold out remount, we have delved even further into  the storytelling and the choreographic choices to bring new clarity to this significant production.

Revisiting Swan Lake extends the creative process featured in the 2023 documentary Swan Song, which showed the collective endeavour of bringing a new ballet to life. Our dancers took the spotlight in that film as the true heart of Swan Lake, a marathon work requiring athletic precision and stamina alongside the nuanced sensibilities of the highest art.

Swan Lake premiered in Moscow in 1877 with choreography by Julius Reisinger. However, most productions today draw from the 1895 revival by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov set to Riccardo Drigo’s arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s score. Swan Lake retains some of the most unforgettable moments in the classical repertoire, from the Dance of the Little Swans to Odile’s infamous 32 fouetté turns.

Our production infuses tradition with innovation, combining original choreography passed down through Erik Bruhn’s beloved staging with new elements from designers and dancemakers of today. This fresh approach emphasizes the sinister and romantic qualities of the story while creating opportunity for signature elements. A favourite is the addition of Prince Siegfried’s sisters, Celia and Elizabeth, who are named after two illustrious women in Canadian dance – Celia Franca, founder of The National Ballet of Canada, and Betty Oliphant, co-founder of Canada’s National Ballet School.

I’m so proud to continue the tradition of Swan Lake at The National Ballet of Canada. Welcome!

Hope Muir, Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director

Swan Lake is Onstage March 8 – 22, 2025

Top Photo: Hope Muir. Photo by Karolina Kuras.