Spring Performance April 18, 19, 20 2025

Mark C. Smith Concert Hall

The Huntsville Ballet Company, accompanied by the Huntsville Ballet Orchestra, takes the stage of the Mark C. Smith Concert Hall once again in April to close its 61st season with a spellbinding Encore Performance of Swan Lake, featuring Acts II, III, and IV of one of the most iconic ballets of all time.

Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake tells the tragic story of the lovelorn Princess Odette, doomed by her captor, the evil sorcerer Baron Von Rothbart, to live as a beautiful swan by day and in her human form only at night; only a vow of love can break the spell. When Von Rothbart discovers that Prince Siegfried has fallen in love with the swan princess and she with him, Von Rothbart furiously transforms his own daughter, Odile, into the very image of Odette, thereby tricking the lovesick Siegfried into haplessly affirming his love for the beguiling Odile, and thus breaking his vow and betraying his true love, Odette, who, because of her lover's unintended deception, must now remain a swan for eternity.

Back by popular demand following Huntsville Ballet Company's enthralling performance of Acts II and IV last season, this season's encore performance expands the story of Tchaikovsky's masterpiece to its full and heartbreaking tale of true love, trickery, and technical mastery with the addition of Act III with its famous Black Swan Pas de Deux—32 fouettés in one of the most technically difficult variations for a ballerina and some of the most riveting dancing in the entire ballet.