“Swan Lake" at the University of Dubuque -- May 3 and 4.
Saturday, May 3, and Sunday, May 4
University of Dubuque's Heritage Center, 2255 Bennett Street, Dubuque IA
On May 3 and 4 at the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center, audiences are invited to immerse themselves in the enchanting world of one of the most beloved dance pieces of all time, with the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra's and Heartland Ballet's staged production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake delivering themes of love, betrayal, and redemption that have made the work a perennial favorite in the ballet repertoire.
Having originally premiered in Moscow in 1877, Swan Lake is Nutcracker composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's timeless love story that mixes magic, tragedy, and romance into four acts. Its central figures are Prince Siegfried and a lovely swan princess named Odette who, while under the spell of a sorcerer, spends her days as a swan swimming on a lake of tears and her nights in her beautiful human form. The couple quickly falls in love, but as in most fairy tales, a Happily Ever After doesn't come easily, and the sorcerer has more tricks to play. His machinations bring the sorcerer's daughter into the picture, leading to confusion, romantic peril, and ultimate forgiveness, with Swan Lake, since its debut, emerging as one of the most frequently produced dance pieces of all time, as well as one of the most beloved by audiences of all ages.
Heartland Ballet founder Tatiana Bechenova, who passed away in 2012, began training in Paris with the famous Maryinski ballerina Lubov Egorova. At age 13, Bechenova joined the Ballet de la Jeunesse, and a year later became the youngest member of the Ballet Russe, Col. de Basil, touring with the world famous company for seven years. As a soloist, she worked with legendary dancers, choreographers and artists including Balanchine, Fokine, Danilova, Bronislava Nijinska, Lifar, Franklin, Stravinsky, Dorati, and countless others. After leaving the Ballet Russe in New York, Bechenova became the principal dancer for Agnes de Mille, performing on Broadway in Carousel. When on tour with that musical, she met and married Tom O'Rourke, a Chicago native, and after several years in Chicago, the couple returned to New York. Three children later, Bechenova and O'Rourke decided that Manhattan was not the place to raise children, and they moved to Dubuque, Tom had spent many summer months as a child. Tanya, meanwhile, began teaching ballet at Clarke College (now Clarke University) and started the Academy of Ballet, and in 1968, she founded the Dubuque City Youth Ballet.
The Dubuque Symphony Orchestra's and Heartland Ballet's Swan Lake will close the 2024-25 performing-arts season in the John & Alice Butler Hall of the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center, with performances on May 3 at 7:30 p.m. and May 4 at 2 p.m. For tickets and information, call 563-585-7469 and visit Dbq.edu/heritage-center.
