Swan Lake with the Russian State Ballet
We had an amazing experience for our students performing alongisde principals from the Russian State Ballet...
Twenty-six of our Majors students aged 10-17 took to the stage in a unique production of the classical ballet "Swan Lake". The performance was part of the 'Ballet without Borders' project which staged 4 unique productions across Scotland during this tour.
Our dancers trained with CSBS teacher Amanda over the course of only 4 rehearsals (!!!), learning the Russian choreography from video clips sent by Maestro Akhundov. The day before the performance, the students had the opportunity to rehearse with the Russian professionals. It was both exciting and challenging given that the ballet master, Maestro Akhundov was unable to attend the tour due to illness. Please view some photos from the rehearsal on our CSBS Facebook page.
As well as dancing the corps de ballet choreography, our students performed principal roles in the production including:
- Pink Prince and Princesses - Hollie Crooks, Olivia Hunter, Ailey Meikle
- Masked Princesses - Abbie Garmany, Olivia Hunter, Ailey Meikle, Robyn Smillie
- Neopolitan Prince and Princesses - Sarah Parker, Anna Bremner, Hannah Firth, Jill Russell
- Polish Mazurka - Olivia Boath, Hollie Crooks, Katy Russell, Rachel Sneddon, Ellie Stenton, Zoe Young
Our little swans
The famous routine, "Dance of the Little Swans" was performed by 7 of our ballet boys! The boys had less than a week to learn the routine and received huge applause from the audience. They were also inspired watching the male dancers from Russia lifting their partners! Congratulations to:
- Kieron Anglin, Lawrence Bremner
- Charlie Fleming, Murray Leitch
- Roan Ogilvie, Robert Paterson, Evan Steel
Surprise performer
The audience were treated to a surprise appearance by CSBS teacher Amanda Clark as the Hungarian Princess in Act 2! She performed a character routine and thoroughly enjoyed performing alongside the students.
Many thanks
We also need to give many thanks to the technical team at Carnegie Hall for their help and support in the theatre; Vitaly Mirinov from the Moscow Caledonian Society and Ballet Without Borders; Costume Source UK for the hire of a set of white tutus; Ballet West for the generous loan of professional swan headdresses.
You can view photos from the dress rehearsal and performance on our Facebook page to get a glimpse of how spectacular the production looked on stage:
Many thanks to Cameron from Leask Photography for taking professional photos and video of the performance which will be available soon!