Swan Lake: First Steps to Stardom
For 5 of Dancewear Central’s talented young models, this weekend will see the culmination of many years of hard work pay off. Jessica Qualter, Millie Fielding, William Brimelow, Jessica Pickles and Zacharias Crowe have all been selected to dance in the English Youth Ballet’s £50,000 production of Swan Lake at the Preston Charter Theatre this Friday and Saturday. Gaining parts was a particularly challenging process, the young performers needed to impress amidst hundreds of other local auditionees, before they were eventually appointed. The whole experience has been thrillingly fast paced for the budding ballet dancers, with less than 2 weeks of intensive rehearsals before what are likely to be their biggest performances to date!
Initially written by (Pyotr) Tchaikovsky over 100 years ago, 2013’s enactment of Swan Lake will be a moving adaptation of the original, focusing on elements of ‘love, rivalry, greed and murder’. The revised storyline bases itself in the setting of 19th century Russia, where the Tsar’s son - Prince Sergei - falls in love with a young ballerina named Odette. However, wanting to better the standing of the Russian Ballet, the evil Baron Von Rothbart manipulates his daughter – Odile – to compete for the Prince’s affection. Dancers and audiences alike will be engrossed by the unexpected and ultimately deadly consequences which ensue!
The production is certain to serve as vital experience for the aspiring ballet dancers, who will be working with several of the EYB’s most experienced and graceful Principal Dancers, including Julianne Rice-Oxley. Julianne has an extensive experience in ballet, dancing in such classics as La Bayadere, The Nutcracker and Concerto Barocco, so we can expect our youngsters to benefit massively from her company. The production has often been described as one of the most technically challenging classical ballets, so we anticipate it to stretch all the aspiring ballet dancers to their limits.
With such an exciting weekend of performances for our young models, we at Dancewear Central would like to be among the first to wish all the local dancers the best of luck in their performances, with hope that this production proves only a first sign of things to come.
For more information on Friday and Saturdays’ performances click here
For more information about the English Youth Ballet click here