Swan Lake
The most famous of ballets tells the love story of Prince Sigfried and Odette. The latter falls victim to the sorcerer von Rothbart and is condemned to live in the body of a swan by day, only returning to her true human woman form at night. This Tchaikovsky creation has been successful in part due to the choreography by Marius Petipa, behind the careers of ballet stars like Margot Fonteyn or Maïa Plissetskaya. Between 1910 and 2019, there were more than 20 different adaptations of this iconic ballet, across Paris, New York, Vienna, Havana, Hamburg, and San Francisco. One of the most famous adaptations was that of choreographer Rudolf Nureyev in 1984 for the Paris Opera.
The Nutcracker
Another mythical creation by Tchaikovsky, "The Nutcracker" was first presented at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg on December 18, 1892. The story is inspired by an E. T. A. Hoffman story, an adaptation of one by Alexandre Dumas. One Christmas evening, the young Clara receives a nutcracker from her uncle. It soon turns into a Prince after a night of magic. Since its first choreographer, Lev Ivanov, "The Nutcracker" has been adapted by some of the greats, George Balanchine, Rudolf Nureyev, and Maurice Béjart… A Christmas classic.
The Boléro
It was in 1927 that Maurice Ravel’s friend Ida Rubenstein commissioned a ballet with Spanish influences. The result is an experimental piece about bolero, a three-part Spanish dance, shown a year later at the National Theater of the Paris Opera, to the delight of critics. Maurice Ravel said of the piece, “I only wrote one masterpiece, the Boléro, however it’s missing music.” This ballet remains a must for the world’s most skilled orchestras.
The Rite of Spring
Shown on May 29th, 1913, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, this ballet by Igor Stravinsky, choreographed by Vaslav Nijinski, sparked great scandal. With subtitles reading “Pictures of pagan Russia”, the second act depicts the sacrifice of a girl, a rite of celebration for the arrival of spring. The audience began to gasp and scream, Stravinsky ducked behind the curtains and Serge Diaghilev tried to calm the audience. With that, "The Rite of Spring" achieved legendary status. Adaptations include choreography by Maurice Béjart, Pina Bausch, and Angelin Preljocaj.
Romeo and Juliette
Adapted from the play by William Shakespeare, "Romeo and Juliet" was born out of melancholia. Commissioned to Sergei Prokofiev in 1934, by the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, his initial theme was turned down, and the production was moved to the Bolshoi. In the summer of 1935, the dancers declared that the ballet was impossible to perform due to its complexity. The ballet was finally put on in 1938, after undergoing many choreography and score changes. The ballet soon became one of the most famous in the world… In 1965, a version by Kenneth MacMillan, with performances by Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyov, earned an ovation lasting 43 minutes.
Translated by Zoe Hofmann
