The Swan Lake ballet was performed by Varna International Ballet, at Oxford’s New Theatre, for one night only, on February 6th. It told the story of a princess who had been turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer. It was easy to sit through and even if you don’t understand what’s going on [which I didn’t] you have lots more to be focusing on. The main thing I was focused on was the costumes since I like dress designing. The female ballet dancers’ outfits were my favourite, there wasn’t a single bad one [in my opinion]. From the iconic white swan tutus to the party guest outfits. The lighting was always perfect for each moment, and it made the dresses reflect in an almost magical way. One of my favourites was when the lead black swan was dancing with the prince: her outfit was a black leotard and tutu with golden streaks on it. When the lights went purple it made the golden streaks on the tutu change to a beautiful, glowing purple olour. When she twirled around it was gorgeous because the colours clashed together so well. The male ballet dancer costumes weren’t as good, and I would’ve designed their outfits different but either way their dance moves were insanely impressive.
My favourite dance was the iconic dance in Swan Lake, which included the majority of the back-up dancers, so they had a moment alone on stage. The show had a live orchestra which played the beautiful music by Tchaikovsky and made the show even more impressive.
The only other thing I would have liked was brief subtitles somewhere on the stage so you know what was going on in the moment. Otherwise, I’d give the whole show an 8/10 and I’d love to go see another ballet.
0 Comments