Jean-Christophe Maillot's Le Lac, music by Tchaikovsky

Jean-Christophe Maillot revisits Swan Lake with writer Jean Rouaud (Winner of the 1990 Prix Goncourt)! Filmed in a studio at Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum, this modern interpretation of the classic ballet sheds new light on the mythic tale of Siegfried and Odette. Conceived by the cutting edge visual artist Ernest Pignon-Ernest, Le Lac features costumes by Philippe Guillotel and Bertrand Maillot’s musical adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s original score performed by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin. An impressive production and winner of the 2013 Golden Prague prize for “Best Performing Arts Program”! 

The young prince Siegfried is set to become king, and must choose his future wife at the celebration of his 21st birthday. Unhappy that he cannot marry for love, he visits the nearby forest, where he sees a group of swans pass by, and then he pauses at the sight of a woman dressed in white swan feathers. He learns that she is none other than the Princess Odette, who suffers under the curse of the sorcerer Rothbart: during the daytime, she is transformed into a white swan, and at night she returns to her natural form as a beautiful young woman. Unable to kill Rothbart and risk making the curse irreversible, the prince deces to marry Odette, with whom he has fallen madly in love, in order to break the spell. The next day at the birthday celebrations, after the prince has met the other princess candidates, Rothbart sends up his daughter Odile, magically transformed into Odette, but dressed in black. Tricked by the disguise, Siegfried declares his love to her. But at the moment the wedding is going to be celebrated, the real princess Odette appears; horrified, Siegfried runs toward the swan lake…