Swan Lake is the most successful of all ballets, in fact it has become the very epitome of classical dance. Together with The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty, it makes up the great trio of classical ballets set to Tchaikovsky's music. Arthaus presents a DVD of the 2004 Teatro alla Scala production of Swan Lake. Two classical ballet world stars take the lead roles: The young prima ballerina Svetlana Zakharova the most sought-after representative of the Russian style - as Odette ; Odile and Roberto Bolle, the La Scala star dancer and most important ambassador of today's Italian Ballet. Directed by Florence Clerc from Paris and Frédéric Olivieri, Artistic Director with the La Scala Ballet, the Milan staging combines the best of both worlds in ballet: It brings the Russian classical school together with the history of choreographic adaptation in the West. The version presented on this DVD is based on the choreography of Swan Lake which in itself has become a classic: The Burmeister version of the 1953 production at the Moscow Academic Music Theater, which first came to the West as Lac des cygnes at the Opéra in Paris in the 50's, and has since been adapted numerous times.
- Picture format: 16x9
- Subtitles: GB, DE, FR, ES, IT