Colorado Ballet brings popular "Swan Lake" to the Denver stage
Colorado Ballet has an exciting 2023-2024 season planned. It kicks off with the classic "Swan Lake". The Colorado favorite "The Nutcracker" will be performed through the holidays, and after the first of the year, "Jekyll & Hyde".
"It's dark and mysterious, for an older mature audience. We're saying 13 and above. And I think it's gonna really appeal to our 'Dracula' fans," said Gil Boggs, Artistic Director for Colorado Ballet.
"Swan Lake" opens in early October, and is particularly complicated to perform.
It opens with a party scene. The Prince is coming of age. There is drinking and dancing, until the Queen tells him he has to get married. Then, he meets the Swan Queen.
"I am a Swan Queen. I was turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer, and if someone pledges their love to me forever, I won't be a swan anymore, I'll return to being a princess," explained Jennifer Grace, Principal Dancer with Colorado Ballet.
Grace dances the twin rolls of the Swan Queen, Odette and the sinister look-alike, Odile.
"Odette/Odile is just such a magnificent combination to have to portray in the same ballet," she said.
She reflects the essence of innocence and purity as Odette, and then flip a switch to play seduction and betrayal as Odile.
"The costume change helps," Grace said of the change from a white costume as Odette, and a black costume ad Odile.
In addition to dancing two very different roles, Grace has to execute technically challenging choreography.
"There's a lot of… just a lot of very difficult steps that you have to be completely in control of, and if you're not, there's not really a way to save it," Grace told CBS News Colorado.
From love and elation at potentially being saved to heartbreak and despair when the evil sorcerer wins again, the emotional layers of the ballet are as demanding as the physicality of it.
"You have to be able to reach inside of yourself and pull out all of those emotions, so not only you're feeling it, but your portrayal causes the audience to feel it too," she explained.
"Swan Lake" is a classic ballet, composed by Tchaikovsky in 1875. The choreography is on point.
"I am naturally a very lyrical dancer, and very like dreamy when I dance, so it feels like a glove to me - a perfect fit," said Mario Vitale Labrador, the Principal Dancer dancing the part of Prince Siegfried.
"Swan Lake" is one of the most popular ballets of all time. The choreography and the music take the audience on a journey of love and loss, and ultimately triumph.
LINK: For Tickets & Information for "Swan Lake"
Colorado Ballet's "Swan Lake" runs October 6 – 15, 2023 at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House.