REVIEW: The National Ballet of Odessa's Swan Lake at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie

THE NATIONAL BALLET THEATRE OF ODESSA BRINGS BALLET MASTERPIECES “SWAN LAKE” AND “ROMEO & JULIET” TO CHICAGOLAND THIS JANUARY

Guest Review: 
by Catherine Hellmann

“Everything is beautiful at the ballet. Raise your arms, and someone’s always there.”--A Chorus Line

The National Ballet Theatre of Odessa presented the ballet masterpiece Swan Lake at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie on January 21. Featuring 55 of Ukraine’s top performers, Swan Lake has familiar, sensual music by composer Prokofiev. The storyline “follows a young prince as he tries to free the beautiful swan maiden from an evil spell.” 

According to the press release, “Swan Lake is a ballet performed in four acts, with one intermission. The script is based on the scenario by Vladimir

Begichev and Vasiliy Geltser, directed by Elena Baranovskaya, and

choreographed by Marius Petipa, Alexander Gorsky, Lev Ivanov, Konstantin

Sergeyev and Yuri Grigorovich.” 

The dancing was incredible and made me feel like I should run home and do five hours of Pilates. Even the way ballet dancers walkoffstage puts me to shame; they are simply so elegant and graceful. I trip just walking to my car…

The costumes were gorgeous. What’s not to like about incredibly fit men in tight white tights?? (Oh, the women were lovely, too..) 

All of the dancers were extraordinary, but the lead ballerina was divine.

 

When I was a kid, my beloved uncle George, a Franciscan priest, used to take me to the Cincinnati Ballet. We had a bachelor relative who had extra money and was a big sponsor of the company and passed free tickets on to Fr. George. I loved those outings, even though George was so intellectually formidable then. 

My teenage daughter had never been to a ballet before, and she loved it. I was so tickled to pass the family tradition on to a new generation. 

Catherine Hellmann is a teacher, writer, and theater junkie. She has tried to inspire urban and rural middle schoolers for over twenty years. A mother of three, she is thrilled to once again claim Chicago as home.  

Acclaimed Ukrainian Ballet Company To Perform “Romeo & Juliet” at Harris Theater for Music and Dance, January 19, 2020 and “Swan Lake” at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, January 21, 2020

The National Ballet Theatre of Odessa, is proud to announce two performances coming to Chicagoland in January 2020.  Featuring 55 of Ukraine’s top performers, “Romeo & Juliet” will be performed at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph St. in Chicago, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2020 at 3 p.m., and “Swan Lake” will be performed at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.. “Romeo & Juliet” tickets are $55 - $85 , and are available by calling the box office at 312-334-7777 or through www.harristheaterchicago.org. “Swan Lake” tickets are $38 - $68 and are available by calling 847-673-6300 or by visiting www.northshorecenter.org. 

“Romeo & Juliet” is a ballet performed in two acts, set to the music of composer Sergei Prokofiev, choreographed by Michael Lavrovsky, directed by Elena Baranovskaya and produced by Garri Sevoian. The fullscale production is based on the WIlliam Shakespeare’s tragedy of the two doomed young lovers. The principal dancers are Olena Dobrianska as “Juliet” and Sergii Dotsenko as “Romeo.”