ballet Jean-Christophe Maillot's Le Lac, music by Tchaikovsky Monte Carlo Ballet

The young prince Siegfried is set to become king, and must choose his future wife at the celebration of his 21st birthday. Unhappy that he cannot marry for love, he visits the nearby forest, where he sees a group of swans pass by, and then he pauses at the sight of a woman dressed in white swan feathers. He learns that she is none other than the Princess Odette, who suffers under the curse of the sorcerer Rothbart: during the daytime, she is transformed into a white swan, and at night she returns to her natural form as a beautiful young woman. Unable to kill Rothbart and risk making the curse irreversible, the prince deces to marry Odette, with whom he has fallen madly in love, in order to break the spell. The next day at the birthday celebrations, after the prince has met the other princess candidates, Rothbart sends up his daughter Odile, magically transformed into Odette, but dressed in black. Tricked by the disguise, Siegfried declares his love to her. But at the moment the wedding is going to be celebrated, the real princess Odette appears; horrified, Siegfried runs toward the swan lake…