Dutch National Ballet

Swan Lake

Rudi van Dantzig, in collaboration with Toer van Schayk

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Dates

15 October – 8 November 2026, 11 – 24 April 2027

Location

Dutch National Opera & Ballet, Main Stage

Running time

3:25, incl. 2 intervals

Tickets

From € 33

Dancer Yuanyuang Zhang on stage in white

Dancer: Yuanyuang Zhang | Photo: Petrovsky & Ramone

Timeless enchantment

White tutus, a sweeping love story and music that sends shivers down your spine: no production is more symbolic of classical ballet than Swan Lake. One hundred and fifty years after Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed his masterpiece, it remains a ballet you simply must see.

In 1877, Tchaikovsky wrote his iconic score to no success. Ahead of its time, the work was only universally recognised in 1895, thanks to the exceptional choreography of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. Ever since, choreographers around the world have drawn on the surviving elements of their version. Among them was Rudi van Dantzig, former artistic direction of Dutch National Ballet, who in 1988 created what one leading critic called ‘the most beautiful Swan Lake ever’.

Love and deception

Van Dantzig opted for a deeply moving, profoundly human interpretation, giving his ballet powerful emotional expression. Love and deception are at the heart of this piece. The white swan Odette embodies sincerity and purity, the ideals of the young Prince Siegfried. He swears eternal devotion to her, yet allows himself to be seduced by the glittering black swan Odile. In doing so, he not only betrays and loses Odette, but also forsakes his own ideals, which has far-reaching consequences.

Set ablaze

The enduring success of Van Dantzig’s version is certainly also due to the contributions of the multi-talented Toer van Schayk. Besides choregraphing the colourful, lively folk dances that set Odile’s entrance ablaze in the third act, he also designed the beautiful sets and impressive costumes, which are inspired by the paintings of the seventeenth-century Dutch Masters. ‘Each costume is a jewel in its own right’, wrote newspaper de Volkskrant.