Style of the City reviews the English Youth Ballet’s premiered performance of Swan Lake at the New Theatre, Cardiff. They performed a traditional production, which emphasised the rivalry between the seductive evil Black Swan, Odile, and the beautiful and vulnerable White Swan, Odette, as they compete for the Prince’s affection.
The production was set in Russia, in the time when the Marinsky Ballet was popular with the Tsar and the Russian nobility, Baron Von Rothbart, Director of the Russian Ballet schemes to secure Royal patronage through the marriage of his daughter Odile to the Tsar’s son. Unlike any other production, the English Youth Ballet’s professional principal dancers lead the large cast of up to 100 young talented regional dancers. The policy of the English Youth Ballet is to perform full length productions of classical ballet in the regional theatres of the UK, to give young dancers, outside of London, an opportunity to perform within a professional setting.
Each of the four acts highlighted the spectacular technique of the principal dancers, along with the technical dances performed by the local younger members, which highlighted Cardiff’s youngest talent. The attention to detail of movement expressed every emotion of love, pain and jealousy performed by the principal dancers and each costume helped depict the scenes to the audience.
The Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Daniel De’Ath, made a special appearance at the end of the performance to highlight the charitable work the English Youth Ballet had contributed to that evening. For this performance, the English Youth Ballet chose to donate to the Noah’s Ark Foundation.
Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales helps children with neurological issues, mental health issues, asthma and so many other illnesses. The donations raised for the charity will be used to provide funding for the most up to date equipment and facilities. They also support services for families such as the play specialist team, who help children be children, despite the difficulties they are facing.
For more information about Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital visit www.noaksarkcharity.org.
For more information on the English Youth Ballet and for their next performance of Swan Lake, visit www.englishyouthballet.co.uk.
