NYC Ballet’s Swan Lake

Generally acknowledged as the quintessential classical ballet, and certainly the most popular, Swan Lake never fails to enchant audiences with its mythical tale of a lovelorn prince who falls under the spell of a swan, Odette, a young woman transfigured by the sinister Von Rotbart. The Company’s full-length production, first presented in 1999 and choreographed by longtime Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins, draws on the staging by the preeminent classical masters Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. But Martins’ version also highlights the Company’s matchless gift for dancing complex choreography at intoxicatingly brisk tempos.