LAC (The Lake)

Following the enthusiastically received Romeo and Juliet at the jubilee 30th Bydgoszcz Opera Festival, the legendary company Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo returns to the festival stage with one of its most celebrated productions - LAC, an original interpretation of Swan Lake by Jean-Christophe Maillot.

Jean-Christophe Maillot deliberately departs from the canonical choreography of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, creating a work that is deeply narrative and psychological. His Swan Lake is not a fairy tale about an enchanted princess, but a dark story of coming of age, desire, and the constant tension between opposites: good and evil, innocence and eroticism, white and black. At the heart of this story stands Prince Siegfried - a lost figure, torn by inner conflicts, entangled in toxic family relationships and his own fears.

Drawing on archetypes found in myths across cultures, Maillot - working in collaboration with writer Jean Rouaud - extracts new meanings from the classical ballet. The motif of transformation, central to the swan as a hybrid of human and animal, becomes a pretext for reflection on the nature of humanity and the limits of free will. Do we truly differ from animals by our capacity for choice? Or, like Siegfried, do we remain eternally unsatisfied, desiring everything at once?

The dramatic power of the performance is shaped by the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The whole is completed by the striking costumes of Philippe Guillotel and the extraordinary ensemble work and virtuosity of the dancers of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo.

• “Maillot, together with writer Jean Rouaud, who collaborated on the dramatic dimension of the production, worked tirelessly to transform the classical Swan Lake into something different—something that resonates with the contemporary world, something fitting for a modern ballet choreographer.”
  NEW-YORK DANCE STUFF (2014)
• “This version of Swan Lake marks a turning point in the history of dance—a dazzling achievement of almost lyrical proportions, while still leaving room for restraint and nuance. It will undoubtedly remain a shining memory for all (…).”
  FIGARO MAGAZINE (2013)
• “(…) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s extraordinarily emotional score has been used with great success, reflected in the intelligent choreography of Jean-Christophe Maillot.”
  DANCE EUROPE (2011)