Edmond Town Hall was packed on March 20 for the sold-out performance of Grand Kyiv Ballet’s touring production of Swan Lake. The two-act, almost 150-year-old ballet was performed by the Ukrainian ballet company created by the premiere of the ballet of the National Opera of Ukraine. One group is currently touring Swan Lake, but the full company also performs other well-known ballets such as Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, and Nutcracker. Grand Kyiv is directed by Oleksandr Stoianov.

When attendees filled in the orchestra and balcony seats of the historic Main Street theater last Friday evening, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s "Introduction to Swan Lake" played. As the curtain rose, a court jester was seen center stage dancing with a company of lords and ladies. The prince, played by Viktor Tomashek, soon joined the royal court. The jester continued to dance and amuse the crowd, and the lords and ladies took turns dancing with each other for the audience. The costumes in the first act were light and subdued: lords wore gray knights’ costumes, the ladies adorned themselves with a light pink, pale yellow, green, and an airy purple.

A lord knighted the prince and gifted him a sword. Shortly after, the queen joined the royal court, dressed in a bold red sparkling gown, and gave the prince a necklace and a crossbow. The prince danced with the crossbow and wandered into the forest, where the audience was first introduced to Rothbart, the evil sorcerer of the woods.

Rothbart (played by Sultan Abdzhigaparov) lurked behind the prince and kept himself hidden. After Rothbart danced across the stage with ominous flashing red lights, the prince found himself in a court of dancing, elegant white swans.

The prince found Odette (Mirei Hayashi), a beautiful white swan princess, and the two began to dance with each other. After engaging in a brief “hide-and-seek” type dance, Odette asked the prince for help in escaping Rothbart’s grasp. At first, the prince was shy, but as he fell more and more in love with Odette, he agreed to help.

During the first act, a group of white swans performed “Dance of the White Swans.” The four ballerinas that performed this were coordinated, calculated, and incredibly bird-like. Their head movements were that of a swan walking across a forest floor. The four moved to the left with jerks of their heads leading the rest of their bodies, and so forth with the right. As they locked hands, their feet flicked up in perfect unison. The soft clacks of pointe shoes on the stage were in time with not only the music, but each other.

The prince, at points, effortlessly lifted Odette into the sky and paraded her around the rest of the swans. It was clear the two characters were falling deeper in love as they continued to dance. As Odette took two fingers and pointed them up to the sky, the prince did the same — an unspoken vow to help and to recognize Odette forever. The curtain fell, closing the first act.

After intermission, the second act began in the royal court. The prince had exchanged his black shirt for a pure white one. It was, after all, his courtship ball the audience returned to. The ladies from the previous act were now in white gowns and veils, signaling that one of them was to be selected to be the prince’s wife. The lords were adorned in pink costumes for the happy occasion.

Rothbart then made a sly appearance in a large and imposing black cape with purple satin lining. With this cape, he hid Odile, his daughter, from view. Rothbart had cast an evil spell to keep Odette hidden in the forest and transform Odile to look like Odette. The only signal to the audience that she was a different person was the now all-black tutu with silver and red sequins.

During this scene is when the famous “Spanish Dance” plays. A dancer in an all-black gown emerged with a fan and Grecian sandals, a distinctive break from the classic pointe shoe. Her partner was also dressed in a black bolero, reminiscent of matador styles of Spain. Sparkling beads cascaded down both the gown and pants of both dancers. The two performed a solo act to Tchaikovsky’s Spanish-inspired song. The dancers clapped and stomped, almost sounding like a tap routine would with the crisp sounds they produced.

After another brief performance by lords and ladies to appease the king and queen, the prince and Odile started to dance. At first, the prince became enamored once more, believing he was dancing with the swan princess he fell in love with, Odette. The two danced more and more, giving each other space to showcase their talents. Over ten fouetté turns in a row from both dancers had the crowd cheering and applauding over the music.

At the end of the dance, Odile took two fingers and pointed them down, which the prince noticed and realized was the opposite of what Odette did in the forest. Strobe lights poured down onto the stage, which showed Odette’s silhouette in the forest. The prince ran off stage, causing the queen to faint.

The prince then ran into the forest, where white swans and two black swans were dancing, and he found Odette asleep on the forest floor. Rothbart then entered the stage once more, which began the epic finale where the prince, Odette, and Rothbart all engaged in a ballet battle. The prince stole the feathered cap off Rothbart’s head, which caused him to wither in power. The prince and Odette prevailed, showing that true love can overcome all evil, and the two embraced once more as the curtain closed for the last time.

The crowd was on their feet. The sound of applause was all that was heard in Edmond Town Hall’s theater. The performance was electrifying and breath-taking. Each dancer showed an incredible discipline and strength, not only in their performance but in their consistent dedication to their home.

Grand Kyiv says on its website, “Full of the spirit of freedom and the skill of Ukrainian artists. We are showing Swan Lake all over the world as a symbol that we will not give [in] to the Russian aggressor who invaded Ukraine.”

Also on the website are opportunities to support Grand Kyiv beyond ticket sales. The traveling company hopes to purchase a tour bus for the United States, and also have a donation fund just for pointe shoes as they are quite expensive and incredibly fragile. The company also has a goal to rebuild Kyiv State Ballet College, “to provide necessary conditions for children to learn this wonderful art, and ensure the future of Ukrainian ballet.”

Those interested in keeping up to date with Grand Kyiv can go to grandkyivballet.com.ua/en.

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Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.