AN ICON OF CLASSICAL BALLET. A TIMELESS MASTERPIECE.

CAPE BALLET BRINGS ITS MAGNIFICENT PRODUCTION OF SWAN LAKE TO AUSTRALIAN AUDIENCES FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

Cape Ballet Swan Lake banner showing a lead dancer pair in white tutus performing a pose on a dark blue stage, with a line of blue-clad dancers in the background and a moonlit backdrop.

Few works in the classical repertoire make greater demands on a ballet company than SWAN LAKE.

At its centre is the extraordinary dual role of Odette and Odile – the White Swan and the Black Swan – requiring a single ballerina to move from vulnerability and innocence to seduction and command. Surrounding her is the great corps of swans, whose unity, musicality and precision have made SWAN LAKE an icon of classical ballet. And, beneath it all is Tchaikovsky’s incomparable score.

To stage SWAN LAKE is to enter a tradition that stretches across more than a century of ballet history. Cape Ballet’s production honours that tradition while bringing together an international team of artists with deep experience of the classical repertoire. The staging follows the classical lineage of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov under the direction of Elena Glurjidze – trained at the Vaganova Academy in St Petersburg, former Lead Principal of English National Ballet, and a celebrated Odette and Odile in her own right.

Ballet scene: a female dancer in a black embellished tutu extends one arm as a male dancer kneels beside her, holding her hand on stage.

Male ballet dancer lifts a female dancer in a pale blue tutu on a dark stage.

Harlequin performer leaps in the air while holding two gold trophies on a theater stage with dancers in dark costumes behind him

Large group of ballet dancers in blue tutus performing synchronized poses on a dark stage with blue lighting.

Female ballet dancer en pointe in a white rhinestone tutu, arms curved overhead, performing an arabesque on a dark stage.

Ballet dancer in a white tutu leans back in a backbend with arms extended on a blue-lit stage; background dancers in white tutus.

Two ballet dancers perform a graceful lift on stage, the lead female in a sparkly white tutu and the partner supporting her behind.

Group of ballerinas and danseurs in royal blue and purple costumes supporting a female dancer in a blue gown as she leans back on stage with flowers along the edge of the stage.

Ballet stage with a female dancer in a sparkling white tutu performing a grand pose while a male dancer kneels beside her, surrounded by other white-tutu dancers in blue lighting

Four ballet dancers in white tutus on stage, en pointe, linked hands in a line under blue lighting, performing a synchronized pose.

Glurjidze is joined by Diane van Schoor, former Ballet Principal of The Royal Ballet School at White Lodge in London, and by Cape Ballet’s own Lindy Raizenberg. Magnificent sets come from Michael Mitchell, whose designs have been seen at London’s Royal Festival Hall, the Dubai Opera House and the Hong Kong Festival. The sumptuous costumes by award-winning designer Marcel Meyer and lighting by the acclaimed Oliver Hauser.

Presenter of the Australian tour, CEO of Theatre Tours International, Simon Bryce said, “The result of Cape Ballet’s achievement is SWAN LAKE as it was meant to be seen: a company of 60, the great tradition intact, and a production staged on the scale Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece demands.”

ABOUT CAPE BALLET

Dancers in red and gold dresses with pink fans performing on a dark stage, background figures in shadowed silhouettes.

Some companies inherit their reputation. Cape Ballet is building its own.

Founded in Cape Town by Debbie Turner and a home company of the prestigious Artscape Theatre Centre, Cape Ballet’s repertoire has expanded at remarkable speed. After opening with Salt and Breathwords, Cape Ballet moved into the great classical canon with Giselle, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake in rapid succession. Its Nutcracker was nominated for two Naledi Awards and broke box office records at Teatro, Montecasino in Johannesburg.

At the heart of the company is Debbie Turner, a defining figure in dance for almost four decades. Her career has encompassed work by some of the leading choreographers of the international dance world, including Main Gielgud, Veronica Paeper, Mthuthuzeli November, Jiří Kylián, George Balanchine, Sir Frederick Ashton and Kenneth Tindall.

Turner’s global vision for ballet sees dancers from her orbit forging award-winning careers throughout Europe and North America. The international outlook of Cape Ballet brings together exceptional dancers from South Africa and beyond its borders, performing the great classical repertoire at the scale it demands, and commissioning new work with the ambition to build a company for the next century.

In 2025, Cape Ballet dancer Joshua Williams received the prestigious Prix Benois de la Danse for Best Male Dancer, one of international ballet’s most significant honours. His name now joins a remarkable lineage of laureates including Carlos Acosta, Vadim Muntagirov and David Hallberg. He is one of only two South Africans to join the laureate, the other, Olivier Award winner Mthuthuzeli November (best choreography), a former student of Turner.

When not on stage, Cape Ballet is based at a purpose-built home at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa in Cape Town, designed for the company and built to its specifications – a rare thing for a company of any age. From there it also runs BalletFutures© Associate Ballet School of the company where students are taught by the ballet staff of the company, and guest master teachers. The intention is simple: that the dancers who fill this stage in a decade’s time are the ones being trained on it now.

ABOUT THEATRE TOURS INTERNATIONAL

Group of dancers in blue, turquoise, and purple Renaissance-style costumes perform on stage; white roses lie on the floor front.

Cape Ballet’s SWAN LAKE is presented in Australia by Theatre Tours International Pty Ltd. Under the leadership of Simon Bryce, the company has presented all genres of live entertainment but is best known for presenting world-class ballet across Australasia, Asia, South Africa and Europe. In recent years the company has enjoyed collaborations with Estonian National Ballet, State Ballet of Georgia, The United Ukrainian Ballet, Shanghai Ballet, Ballet de Santiago and Cape Ballet.

The company also co-produces bespoke orchestral concerts recently undertaking national tours of The Man From Snowy River in Concert, the Classic Rock Live series and Fernando – The Music of ABBA Orchestrated.