Swan Lake. Moscow Classical Ballet Theater

The ballet in 3 actions, 4 pictures.
Libretto by V. Begichev, V. Geltser.
Choreography: M. Petipa, L. Ivanov, A. Gorsky, A. Messerer, N. Kasatkina, V. Vasilyov.
This version of the performance is carried out by N. Kasatkina and V. Vasilyov.
Designer: T. Goodchild (Great Britain).
Costumes are made under the guidance of K. Baker (Great Britain).
The premiere of the performance was held in the summer of 1988 during the tours of the State academic theatre of the classical ballet in Great Britain. It is a joint Russian-English production, the first in the history of the Russian ballet. The choreographic version and execution are carried out by the Russian side — the State academic theatre of the classical ballet.
The staging, scenery, and costumes were produced by the British counterpart. The designer of the performance is one of the most famous British set designers Tim Goodchild. Costumes are made under the guidance of Kim Baker.
The main roles in the premier performance were performed by Vera Timashova and the brilliant Vladimir Malakhov.
The first ballet of Tchaikovsky The Swan Lake (composed in 1876) talks about the fight for love and happiness against powers of darkness, about love as the highest manifestation of humanity. This subject penetrates all the creative legacy of Tchaikovsky, including all his ballets.
According to the initial plan of the composer, the ballet ended with the tragic death of the main characters. However this plan wasn't realized in the subsequent stagings. This version of The Swan Lake follows the plan of the author.
In the first staging of The Swan Lake (1877, the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre, the ballet master V. Reisinger) the innovation of music remained unrevealed. The combination of the symphonic style and force put into it received the embodiment only under the direction by Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa (1885, the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg) where the figurative keynote of the subject of swans (the floating arabesque), contrast opposition of the fantasy and life have been found for the first time, symphonic dances of swans were created, the national character suite resolved, etc. This staging became the basis of all subsequent versions of The Swan Lake including the well-known performance of the ballet master Alexander Gorsky at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1901.
More than thirty years ago the Great Britain applauded the Swan Lake performance of the Bolshoi Theatre, a version that carries in Russia the name of Old Moscow Swan Lake (choreography by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, Alexander Gorsky, and Asaph Messerer). This almost forgotten version of the Swan Lake has formed the basis of the version which is offered to the public by the State academic theatre of the classical ballet. Many remarkable pieces of the old edition of the Swan Lake are carefully restored according to the initial plans of Marius Petipa in the first act of the ballet. The fragments created anew sensitively and carefully transfer the style of the well-known performance.
When staging this production Natalia Kasatkina and Vladimir Vasilev consulted with Nikolay Fadeechev — one of the best-known Princes of the Bolshoi Theatre, with the famous Marina Semenova, with Asaph Messerer.
The Russian ballet critic Elena Lutskaya called this work of directors "the lesson in the modern treatment to classical heritage".
The performance was shown with great success on stages of the USA, Turkey, Japan, France, and Italy.
"The troupe has brought amazing staging of the Swan Lake" — the American media wrote. It is a rich performance staged with great freshness. The public saw the ballet of special lightness and sensitivity".