Swan Lake

The beautiful Princess Odette is turned into a swan by the evil sorcerer Rothbart and forced to live by the lake forever. Odette can only become a princess again if a man swears his love for her...

In the Palace a party is being organised for Prince Siegfried. As the Prince arrives the party begins. The Queen arrives and presents a magnificent crossbow to her son for his birthday. During the party, the Queen tells the Prince that he is at the age to be married. The Prince decides to go to the lake with his new crossbow and think about whom he would like to marry.

At the Lake, there are lots of beautiful swans like Odette, who turn back into a human at midnight. Odette is Queen of the swans and appears from the water as the Prince reaches the Lake. Prince Siegfried stares in amazement as he has never seen anything as beautiful as Odette but the evil Rothbart appears and chases Odette off. The Prince runs after her and after a short time finds Odette and tells her how much he loves her, promising to rescue her from her life as a swan. But Rothbart returns and steals the Swan Queen away from the Prince. Prince Siegfried is left alone and very upset as he does not think he will ever see Odette again.

A ball is being held in the Caste, the Queen presents the Prince with six Princesses and he must choose to marry one of them. Prince Siegfried dances with all of the Princesses but refuses to marry any of them because he is in love with Odette. The evil Rothbart arrives at the ball with his daughter Odile who he has disguised as Odette, to trick the Prince. The Prince believes that Odile is Odette and swears his undying love for her but he has broken his promise of love to the real Odette. When the Prince finds out what has happened he is devastated and leaves the ball to find Odette.

At the Lake, Prince Siegfried asks for Odette's forgiveness, which she grants. The Prince and Odette are very happy but Rothbart arrives at the Lake to cause trouble. Rothbart reminds the Prince of his promise to his daughter Odile and they begin to fight. Odette is so upset at the fighting that she throws herself into the Lake, the Prince follows. Rothbart's evil spell is eventually broken by the eternal love of Prince Siegfried and Princess Odette.

The End

Thank you to the Royal Ballet for the use of photographs from their productions of Swan Lake.

Visit the Royal Ballet website for more information.