Het Zwanenmeer – Dutch National Opera & Ballet, Amsterdam

About this event

Love and deception Van Dantzig opted for a deeply moving, profoundly human interpretation, giving his ballet powerful emotional expression. Love and deception are at the heart of this piece. The white swan Odette embodies sincerity and purity, the ideals of the young Prince Siegfried. He swears eternal devotion to her, yet allows himself to be seduced by the glittering black swan Odile. In doing so, he not only betrays and loses Odette, but also forsakes his own ideals, which has far-reaching consequences. Set ablaze The enduring success of Van Dantzig’s version is certainly also due to the contributions of the multi-talented Toer van Schayk. Besides choregraphing the colourful, lively folk dances that set Odile’s entrance ablaze in the third act, he also designed the beautiful sets and impressive costumes, which are inspired by the paintings of the seventeenth-century Dutch Masters. ‘Each costume is a jewel in its own right’, wrote newspaper de Volkskrant.