On January 16th, 17th and 18th, 2025, “LAC” from the Swan Lake, with choreography by Jean-Christophe Maillot

The music is by Pëtr Il'ič Čajkovskij with additions by Bertrand Maillot.

Again on the stage Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo.

On the podium, leading the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra, Garrett Keast.

Florence, January 14th, 2025 - The ballet shows with the company Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo continues. After Roméo et Juliette, three “LAC” events dedicated to Swan Lake - the masterpiece by Pëtr Il'ič Čajkovskij on stage with music by Bertrand Maillot  -  in Sala Grande: January 16th and 17th at 8pm and January 18th 2025 at 3:30pm.

On the podium, Maestro Garrett Keast leads the Maggio Orchestra; choreography is by Jean-Christophe Maillot; scenes are curated by Ernest Pignon-Ernest and costumes by Philippe Guillotel. The lighting is by Jean-Christophe Maillot and Samuel Thery; the dramaturgy is by Jean-Christophe Maillot and Jean Rouaud.

Protagonists on stage, in the main roles and in different performances, several interpreters of Roméo et Juliette: Matèj Urban and Alvaro Prieto play Il Re; Laura Tisserand is La Regina; Sua Maestà la Notte is played by Mimoza Koike and Marianna Barabas; Jérôme Tisserand and Jaeyong An play the Prince; Lou Beyne and Juliette Klein play the White Swan, and Lydia Wellington and Ashley Krauhaus play the Black Swan.

The part of the Prince’s Confidant is played by Simone Tribuna and Daniele Delvecchio; The Archangels of Darkness are Jaat Benoot and Alessio Scognamiglio and Lennart Radtke and Koen Havenith.

Katrin Schrader and Victoria Ananyan are The Vanities; Elena Marzano is The False Indifference; The Libertines are played by Anissa Bruley and Ashley Krauhaus and by Kathryn McDonald and Ekaterina Mamrenko. The main cast ends with Portia Adams and Victoria Ananyan as La Divoratrice.

The show, which is naturally linked to that just staged by Roméo et Juliette, also in the re-interpretation of Jean-Christophe Maillot, is based on the concept that the audience often recalls the ballet of Swan Lake for its formidable II act, a true monument of the classical repertoire immediately identifiable for white choreography and

From this point of view, the second act of Swan Lake can be considered as one of the first examples of abstract ballet, to be contemplated without giving too much weight to the plot and what it intends to tell. The viewer is not asked to analyze, but only to enjoy the pure aesthetics of the lake and the beauty of a movement that is sufficient for itself.  Maillot’s “LAC” puts storytelling back at the centre of the show. In the swan lake everything is dark, complicated, rich of hidden meanings: a suggestion that the swan with deep and ancient roots that start from the Greek myths, Nordic and Russian, which over time have always made it a fascinating hybrid being.

In his creation, Maillot chooses to return to the past, to the torments of history that are directly linked to our childhood fears, to the terrors of the night. These experiences buried deep in our memory, are here awakened and inserted into a family context where the hatred of adults manages to overcome the benevolence of parents. The transition from animal to human state crosses the whole work and questions us about our very nature.

Jean-Christophe Maillot is thus reliving the torments of a story linked to our nightmares. These buried experiences are resurrected and combined against a familiar Machiavellian background used to present a ballet marked by contrasts. The change from animal to human being permeates the whole story and questions our very nature.