TCHAIKOVSKY: Swan Lake (Bolshoi Ballet, 1989) (NTSC)

Alla Mikhalchenko, Yuri Vasyuchenko, Aleksandr Vetrov

Revised Choreography by Yuri Grigorovich
Based on choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov

The Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, Algis Zhuraitis

Design by Simon Virsaladze
Directed for Video by Motoko Sakaguchi

Sound Format: PCM Stereo
Picture Format: 4:3
Region Code: 0
Menu Languages: D, F, GB, SP
Running Time: 127 mins
DVD 9/ NTSC
Cat no.: 100 713

"Yuri Grigorovich bestrode Soviet ballet like a colossus for 40 years, as chief choreographer of the Kirov and then, mightily, the Bolshoi Ballet. This gives him a titanic place in ballet history, almost the equal of Marius Petipa under the tsars of 19th-century St Petersburg." The Daily Telegraph

Swan Lake is the very essence of classical ballet and has a rather venerable history of its own. First choreographed in 1877 by the great Marius Petipa for the Bolshoi, this original choreography has since been tweaked by almost every choreographer to get hold of it down through the years.

Yuri Grigorovich keeps the general outline of the story of a prince who falls in love with the mythic half-woman, half-swan Odette (only to betray her when she appears to him in disguise as Odile). Grigorovich however added a controversial twist with his inclusion of a psychological dimension to the proceedings: the evil sorcerer cast as the dark twin of the hero-prince.

The pearl of this production is undoubtedly Alla Mikhalchenko as Odette-Odile. Her impressive technique and brilliant acting gives the character a new expressive dimension.