Cuban prima ballerina Viengsay Valdés and US star Brooklyn Mack will dance the principal roles in two performances of Joburg Ballet’s Swan Lake this weekend.

As the prima ballerina of the National Ballet of Cuba, Viengsay Valdés is widely acclaimed as one of the leading ballerinas of our time. Watch her and US ballet star, Brooklyn Mack from the Washington Ballet, in this mini-documentary video clip as they perform and talk about their inspirations and challenges, particularly with Swan Lake.

For more behind-the-scenes footage, see the other mini-documentary episodes here.

Two performances only for the dynamic duo

As visiting guests, Viengsay Valdés and Brooklyn Mack will be performing together in the leading roles in Joburg Ballet’s new production of Swan Lake for two performances – on Friday evening, 24 April 2015, and Sunday afternoon, 26 April 2015.

You’ll also have one more opportunity to watch Brooklyn Mack when he dances opposite South Africa’s own prima ballerina Burnise Silvius, with their single performance together scheduled to close the Swan Lake season on Sunday, 3 May 2015 at 3pm.

Booking details:

Dates: Friday 17 April – Sunday 3 May 2015.
Venue: Joburg Theatre, Braamfontein, Johannesburg
Tickets: from R100 to R400 via JoburgTheatre.com or 0861 670 670

A scene from Lauge Sorensen’s beautifully produced mini-documentary for Joburg Ballet.

Joburg Ballet have created a video series that takes you into their studios and into dancers’ homes to follow their journey as they rehearse and prepare for every detail of their new production of Swan Lake 2015.

With new choreography, new stage sets and an international cast from China, Cuba, the United States, Brazil and South Africa – the logistics are scary and the nerves are running high, but so is the excitement.

But let’s step back to one month before opening night, when the dancers first start to truly feel the pressure as they prepare physically and mentally. Here’s Episode 1, titled Pressure, with a special behind-the-scenes focus on South Africa’s own prima ballerina, Burnise Silvius.

Looking at the aspirations of up-and-coming young dancers and the unique challenges of a South African ballet company encouraging children from the townships to one day take centre stage – here’s Episode 2, Aspirations…

In Episode 3 you’ll meet soloist Nicole Ferreira-Dill and experience her joy as she learns she’s going to take on the roles of Odette and Odile for the very first time. This Episode is called Casting.

And then Episode 4, Swan Lake Production Week, shows the company in the final few days of preparations and rehearsals before opening night.

Booking details for Joburg Ballet’s Swan Lake:

Dates: Friday 17 April – Sunday 3 May 2015.
Venue: Joburg Theatre, Braamfontein, Johannesburg
Tickets: from R100 to R400 via JoburgTheatre.com or 0861 670 670

Held at Cape Town’s Artscape Theatre from 18 to 22 February 2014, the SAIBC attracted 70 dance participants from around the world to compete for medals and cash prizes in contemporary dance and classical ballet.

If you missed it, see the full story and the big winners in our part 1 story here, and enjoy the photo highlights from the competition finals in part 2 here. Or simply click ahead on a picture below to open the gallery and view the backstage photos in full size.

Gold medallist ballerina Yuanyuan Zhang with partner Anpu Yuan (both from China) during the finals of the 2014 South African International Ballet Competition. Photo by Pat Bromilow-Downing.

Following on from our Part 1 story (read it here), enjoy these photos from the Finals and Awards of the South African International Ballet Competition, held on the Saturday night of 22 February 2014 at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town.

Magical moments from the SAIBC Finals and Awards

Don’t squint, click on a photo to open the gallery and pin your favourite dance pics to Pinterest. Look out for more behind-the-scenes ballet competition photos and videos to follow… [Update: find the sneak peek backstage photo gallery in Part 3 here.]

Back row, left to right: Seung Yeon Yang, Yuanyuan Zhang, Xu Jing Kun, Fu Yi Yang, Francois Llorente Nunez, Javier Monier, Rafael Quenedit Castro, Ramiro Samon, Mthuthuzeli November, Ga Yeon Jung.
Front row: Byul Yun, Yu Hang, Leroy Mokgatle, Lou Spichtig, Gabrielle Chock, Julia Conway.
Photo by Pat Bromilow-Downing

In a breathtaking and sometimes eye-popping display of talent, technique, strength and agility, 70 dancers from the ages of 11 to 28 competed and were systematically eliminated in what dancers labelled an “intense” week at the South African International Ballet Competition, held at Artscape in Cape Town from 18 to 22 February 2014.

In what’s said to be the highest level of performance ever seen at the South African International Ballet Competition, the final few dancers went head-to-head and toe-to-pointed-toe during the finals on the Saturday night competing for the top positions, medals and a share of R370 000 in cash prizes.

Big dreams come true for young South Africans

South African Mthuthuzeli November was a big winner of the night with a gold medal and a scholarship to the Ailey School in New York City. Photo by Pat Bromilow-Downing.

The South Africans held their own in the competition, with Mthuthuzeli November (20 years old) – a student at the Cape Academy of Performing Arts (CAPA) in Cape Town – taking gold in the Senior contemporary section. He had also won gold in the same category in the previous 2012 competition and this highly talented young man, originally from the Zolani township outside Montagu, so enchanted the audience that competition judge Melanie Person offered November a scholarship to the prestigious Ailey School in New York, of which she is co-director.

A second Ailey scholarship was also offered to another Cape dancer, Khanya Mandongana (17) from the Cape Junior Ballet who beamed onto stage, despite striding on with crutches thanks to a foot injury sustained during his final performance.

Young star-in-the-making, Leroy Mokgatle (14) from the Art of Motion school in Johannesburg was an impressive South African competitor in the scholar division and won a gold medal in the contemporary section as well as a silver medal for his striking classical performance of Don Quixote.

14 year old Leroy Mokgatle from Johannesburg wowed the audience with his performance from Don Quixote. Photo by Pat Bromilow-Downing.

Tough international acts to follow

But the night belonged to China with the biggest number of medals, six in total, with five golds and one bronze medal. The star of the night was Yuanyuan Zhang (19) from China, winning a double gold for both the junior classical and junior contemporary sections. You can see her perform with her partner, Anpu Yuan (21), at the Young Ballet Stars of the World gala events in Johannesburg on 25 and 26 February 2014.

Double gold medallist in the junior category, Yuanyuan Zhang. Photo by Pat Bromilow-Downing.

The South Korean dancers will travel home with two golds and two silvers across the contemporary and classical sections; and following just behind the Koreans, the Cubans were awarded two golds, one silver and a bronze medal. Two medals will also travel back to the USA and one to Switzerland.

The gold medal in the men’s senior classical division went to Ramiro Samon, who along with fellow Cuban and silver medallist, Javier Monier, are both currently dancing with Joburg Ballet and can be seen in their upcoming production of Coppélia at the Joburg Theatre in Johannesburg from 7 to 23 March 2014.

Here are the full results from the 2014 South African International Ballet Competition:

Senior Classical – Girls
Gold: R25 000: Ga Yeon Jung (21), South Korea
Silver: R15 000: no medal awarded
Bronze: R10 000: no medal awarded

Senior Contemporary – Girls
Gold: R15 000: no medal awarded

Senior Classical – Boys
Gold: R25 000: Ramiro Samon (20), Cuba
Silver: R15 000: Javier Monier (21), Cuba
Bronze: R10 000: no medal awarded

Senior Contemporary – Boys
Gold: R15 000: Mthuthuzeli November (20), South Africa

Junior Classical – Girls
Gold: R20 000: Yuanyuan Zhang (19), China
Silver: R12 500: Lou Spichtig (16), Switzerland
Bronze: R7 500: Gabrielle Chock (16), USA

The senior classical gold medal went to Cuban dancer Ramiro Samon, currently dancing with Joburg Ballet. Photo by Pat Bromilow-Downing.

Junior Contemporary – Girls
Gold: R10 000: Yuanyuan Zhang (19), China

Junior Classical – Boys
Gold: R20 000: Rafael Quenedit Castro (17), Cuba
Silver: R12 500: Byul Yun (19), South Korea
Bronze: R7 500: Francois Llorente Nunez (18), Cuba

Junior Contemporary – Boys
Gold: R10 000: Byul Yun (19), South Korea

Scholar Classical – Girls
Gold: R7 500: Yu Hang (14), China
Silver: R5 000: Seung Yeon Yang (15), South Korea
Bronze: R2 500: Julia Conway (14), USA and Fu Yi Yang (13), China

Scholar Contemporary – Girls
Gold: R5 000: Yu Hang (14), China

Scholar  Classical– Boys
Gold: R7 500: Xu Jing Kun (13), China
Silver: R5 000: Leroy Mokgatle (14), South Africa
Bronze: R2 500: No medal awarded

Scholar Contemporary – Boys
Gold: R5 000: Leroy Mokgatle (14), South Africa

Enjoy more fantastic competition photos from the finals in Part 2 here, with a behind-the-scenes sneak peek photo gallery in Part 3 here.

Using good business ideas to make ballet take off. Photo by Mish Sukharev via Flickr.

They may be a non-profit organisation on paper, but in action Joburg Ballet look more like a young, caffeine-spiked business startup with big dreams rather than any tired arts institution with old ideas.

While they’re not the most web- or social-savvy kids on the ballet block (that title goes to Diablo Ballet with their world first Web Ballet), when it comes to offline initiatives Joburg Ballet are increasingly the mavericks of marketing. Here’s a look at the big ideas behind a big year for the company:

From touchdown to game changer

When faced with the challenge of getting more bums on seats for their classical ballet productions, they looked for fresh ideas in unlikely places, far removed from the world of ballet, the theatre and even beyond the arts. They looked to the big business of sport.

Golden opportunities can be found waiting in unusual places. Photo by Jenni C via Flickr.

Taking advice from Harvard MBA students – who visited Joburg Ballet in January 2013 as part of their FIELD programme, of which Joburg Ballet is now a FIELD global partner – they looked to the best tactics used by major sport events to fill stadium seats.

Aiming to attract younger audiences to the games, some American pro football teams invited kiddies teams to play a short game during halftime. This clever idea effectively created low-cost halftime entertainment with the big bucks benefit of attracting the kids, their parents and all the supporting aunties, uncles and screaming fan club to watch their little darlings play on the professional field.

Applying this idea to ballet meant inviting the local dance schools and studios to give short performances during the interval of the company’s Don Quixote production in March 2013. And Bam! Seats sold like (American) hot cakes.

Seeing the opportunity not only to sell more seats, but to play a more active role in the professional development of young local dancers, Joburg Ballet upped the game for their next season of Cinderella in September 2013, when they turned the interval initiative into a dance competition with sponsored prizes. And again, their seats were sold.

And now for something completely different…

But while Joburg Ballet looked to sport ideas for filling their first two productions, it was the cinema that inspired a novel idea for their recent Nutcracker production. This time, the idea wasn’t around how to fill the seats, but rather how to market to those already sitting in them. Experimenting with new ways to give value and exposure to their business partners, Joburg Ballet stole an old idea from cinema advertising, and then gave it a ballet twist.

Cinema-goers expect to see adverts before a movie, but how would theatre-goers respond to a live on-stage advert before the opening night show?

Making brands fly with ballet. Photo by Mariola Biela

After the initial confusion of the very non-Nutcracker music and the clearly non-classical neon orange outfits, the audience settled in to enjoy what appeared to be a bonus performance of some swirling and high-flying modern ballet.

As the dancers came to the end of their two minute piece, they lined up and opened the little suitcases they’d been dancing with to reveal a completely unexpected message from Joburg Ballet’s business partner, Mango Airlines. The audience erupted into a surprised applause, sharing comments such as “oh, how clever!” as the realisation hit that it was a commissioned ad-performance.

Ballet’s first live pre-show advert. Photo by Mariola Biela

The two Joburg Ballet leaders (CEO Dirk Badenhorst and artistic director Iain MacDonald) would later explain that this was the first ever branded ballet advert preceding a ballet performance, which gave the airline tremendous exposure to their captive ballet audience.

It was another experimental initiative that worked, so much so that the ballet company may have inadvertently pioneered a whole new industry of theatre advertising.

Soccer star Lucas Radebe tries his hand at ballet with Burnise Silvius during Joburg Ballet’s airport flashmob.

A busy, boundary-pushing year

As with any young business striving for success, Joburg Ballet couldn’t settle for a few brilliant moments and put their feet up for the rest of the time. No, this company looked like they were willing to try anything, everything, grabbing any opportunity to take ballet to the people.

This included several flashmobs at airports, on trains and Gautrain stations and two banks (watch the two video clips below for more on those events).

Certain flashmobs were accompanied by pop-up ticket booths to link their marketing efforts to on-the-spot ticket sales.

The company also took ballet performances to unusual outdoor venues like the Pretoria Zoo; the Swartkops Air Show for their ballet with a Boeing; and even took centre pitch at a soccer stadium for the closing ceremony of the 2013 Orange Africa Cup of Nations, where the entire company performed with Yvonne Chaka Chaka in support of United Against Malaria to a televised audience of around 700 million viewers.

Clever collaborations and envy-making funding

Marie Claire and Joburg Ballet’s fashion design competition to design Cinderella’s ball gown.

Talking of television, the Joburg Ballet dancers also performed with Mafikizolo at the 2013 Big Brother Africa opening night.

Other media collaborations earned the company advertising coverage on CNBC Africa and MNet, with a valuable little clip on SABC’s popular Top Billing show as a result of the design a dress for Cinderella competition featured in Marie Claire magazine.

Of course, not every experiment works, and certain Joburg Ballet initiatives were possibly not leveraged as well as they could be, particularly when time was tight and resources were scattered. Working at this extended pace, injuries and burnout were a very real risk too.

But it was their fearless, fresh thinking that earned them a great deal of interest, brand new audiences and business potential.

Add all this interest to the R8-million funding from the City of Joburg (which prompted the name change from South African Mzansi Ballet to Joburg Ballet) and the R2.4-million raised at their annual fundraiser event, Joburg Ballet’s 2013 run could just possibly make even the brightest Silicon Valley startups green with envy.

Every little detail counts – artistic director, Iain MacDonald, coaches Shannon Glover during final dress rehearsals for Cinderella. Photo courtesy Joburg Ballet.

What does it take to create a brand new ballet? Robynn Burls visited Joburg Ballet to meet the real fairy godmother godfather working behind the scenes in the company’s recent season of Cinderella. This is what she discovered about the man behind the magic…

I extended my hand out as I walked up to meet Iain MacDonald, Joburg Ballet’s artistic director, but before I knew it the handshake became a hug. This, I came to learn, is Iain’s way, and it was quickly apparent why he’s so well liked by everyone who knows him.

Cinderella’s magical carriage and charming/comical horses arrive to cart her off to the Prince’s ball. Photo by Susanne Holbaek.

We were sitting down for a coffee and a talk following another successful performance of Cinderella, but any plans I might have had of some form of structured interview were tossed aside two minutes into what immediately became a lively, animated chat, delving into Iain’s latest creation.

He’s naturally warm and easy-going, but clearly equally intense with his enthusiasm for his craft. And the more we talked, the more I could identify his inspired signature all over this brand new ballet – from the little comic moments (like the bobbing of the horses heads as they pulled Cinderella’s carriage) to the laugh-out-loud antics of the ugly sisters, to the very grand and extended final wedding pas de deux.

Balancing act – mixing grand moves with traditional expectations

Iain admits that he created the kind of ballet he would’ve loved to dance himself. Being particularly fond of the pas de deux scenes, but not the stop-start solo variations in-between, he opted to drop the traditional approach and go for one big, impressive final pas de deux instead.

“I wanted it to be a wow thing,” says Iain. “I mean, the whole ballet was based around the final pas de deux. You’ll notice there are no big variations, where he goes, she goes, and I did that intentionally, because I think we’re so used to that.”

And ‘wow’ it was. The final pas de deux was certainly complicated, challenging and dazzling. It was also quite possibly game-changing, especially for the poor Prince who required tremendous strength and a deep stash of stamina to make it through this piece. And just when you thought they’d completed their final hoorah move, the couple went on to do another aerial trick and another (one-armed) lift.

Burnise Silvius and Jonathan Rodrigues created a magic all of their own in Cinderella’s big and dramatic final wedding pas de deux. Photo by Susanne Holbaek.

Iain knew his final pas de deux was tough, but he created it anyway confident that his opening night Prince Charming had the strength to pull it off. In fact, the handsome Jonathan Rodrigues couldn’t be a better fit for the role, leaving more than just Cinderella swooning over his suave, effortless strength and purrrfectly toned b…

Ahem, getting back to the story, Iain said, “For me, the prince is a tall, dark, good-looking guy and I wanted every woman in the audience to be oohing and aahing over him, which works, and the pas de deux is ridiculously hard and Jonathan’s a strong, strong partner”.

Uh-huh, no doubt about that. You can see Jonathan rehearsing with the lovely Burnise Silvius in this video montage from the SABC…

But it’s not only Iain’s final scene that was “ridiculously hard”, the corps were challenged right from the very start too. He had the flower sellers, bakers and dressmakers doing multiple pirouettes while still holding their baskets and breads. (You try doing a double pirouette en pointe while holding a big basket of stuff!) “They asked me if they could put it down” laughs Iain, “and I said no!”

And watch this short video clip (43 seconds) where Iain talks to Top Billing about Cinderella’s entrance and the big pas de deux…

Last minute changes and unexpected surprises

Apart from creating challenges for the dancers, Iain had a few challenges tossed his way too when at the last moment – at 6pm on the final dress rehearsal night – they still had to change sets and rework certain key entrances and exits. But that’s show-business for you.

Iain admits he also had a few flat-lining days during the choreography process, circling in a creative drought not sure how to proceed. And then there were the freak-out moments too.

In particular, he laughs at the cosmic joke that was played on him a few weeks before opening night, running out of time to still teach and finish the ballet. At the height of this stress, with no time to spare (or so he thought), in glided the ever-so-cool-and-calm Colombian choreographer, Álvaro Restrepo, who then wooed almost the entire Cinderella cast into a collaborative Colombian-South African piece for Celebration 5. While Iain helplessly watched the time tick away, itching to get things moving along as swiftly as possible, Álvaro had all the dancers sitting in a large circle… meditating… for three days!

Iain laughingly concedes though that it was probably exactly what everyone needed to calm the frenetic pace and frazzled nerves.

Finding the funny side

In fact, Iain seems quick to spot the humour in most things, which is probably why laughter and giggles bubbled up so naturally from the audience throughout his Cinderella production. Humour was not an afterthought, but rather a very central consideration for Iain.

After commenting on some piece of comic choreography, Iain said to me, “I hope you got the humour throughout the whole ballet. I wanted mom, dad and kids to come to the ballet and for the father not to think, oh my gosh, I’m so bored I can actually cry. I wanted there to be humour for them as well.”

Much of the comedy was also a collaborative process, where Iain allowed the dancers to experiment. “We laughed till the tears were running in the rehearsals,” he said. However, Iain has a strategy even in humour and explained that “it’s a fine line being so funny but not actually telling the story.”

Cinderella’s stepsisters brought a serious dose of comedy to the show, while the stepmother made for an impressively intimidating character. Played here from left, Carlos Santos, Kitty Phetla, Luis de Castro with Burnise Silvius as Cinderella.

In the end, after months of thinking, dreaming and dancing, through inspiration and frustration, and despite time-munching meditating circles and last minute hiccups, Iain and his Joburg Ballet colleagues created a beautifully balanced ballet, as well as a jolly good show.

Coming attractions

“So what’s next?” I asked Iain, to which the answer became another hour-long talk, revealing the mind of an inspired creator, where every song and movie holds the potential for a brand new ballet idea or a creatively updated classic.

But while (always) dreaming up fantastic ideas for future ballets, he’s also preparing for next year’s seasons of the light-hearted Coppélia and then the highly challenging classic, La Bayadere. But also look out for a few fun twists to The Nutcracker coming up in the meantime too.

Wrapping up our talk, with only five minutes to spare before his next appointment, I asked about the long and all-consuming hours he puts into his work. “But for me,” Iain says, “it’s what I love doing, I’m passionate about it. I come to work every day being inspired.”

Here are a few more photos for you to enjoy (click on an image to open the gallery):

Photo by Paul Hudson via Flickr.

Being able to act is a central skill for all aspiring and professional dancers (although not all dancers get it quite right – see this Swan Lake review for a recent example). But with no speaking allowed, dancers have to rely on mime to convey their messages.

The hilarious master of mime

So let me introduce you to the brilliant David Armand, who has combined mime, ‘interpretative dance’ and comedy to bring you this…

Yes, I know, one’s just not nearly enough, so here’s our next favourite ‘dance’ to Britney Spears. “Oh baby, baby… How was I supposed to know… that something wasn’t right here.”

Beautifully convincing corps de ballet, but sometimes uninspired solos. Photo by Sarah Weyman.

Despite being the second largest theatre (in terms of seats) on the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre’s international tour – which includes 50 cities so far in 2013 – the Teatro at Johannesburg’s Montecasino doesn’t have a particularly large stage, made even smaller by the ballet company’s beautifully elaborate sets. Add the corps de ballet of 24 swans and there is little space left for the principals and soloists.

However, we don’t think any stage on the planet could restrain prima ballerina Irina Kolesnikova. Her stage presence is so dramatic and magnetic that everything else fades into unimportance as she glides onto the scene.

Irina Kolesnikova as Odette in Act II. Photo courtesy of SPBT.

And ‘glide’ she does. As the anguished Odette, her movements are feathery soft and smooth, and her portrayal was so touching and absorbing that my little heart actually ached in empathy of her pain.

As Odile, however, her wicked deception was fierce and electric (as were her fouettés). When her evil con was revealed and she laughingly threw Siegfried’s love on the floor, I caught myself whispering under my breath what the rest of the audience was surely thinking too: “Bitch”.

In fact, the split-personality contrast of Irina’s dual roles had the ballet newbies next to us confused and amazed, asking “did she really dance both white and black swans?”; followed by their excited wide-eyed realisation: “oh my god, so she has to dance and act!”

Yes, that’s how prima ballerinas roll.

But not everyone in the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre (SPBT) cast manages to get that right – although you’ll probably only notice this when Irina is off stage, because you’re not really watching anyone else when she’s on.

Letting the flock down

The strongest contrast to Irina’s masterful performance was probably her principal partner, Dmitri Akulinin performing Siegfried. A little like Neo in The Matrix, he seems to only ever have one expression. Whether he’s happy, sad, angry or triumphant, it’s the same wooden look.

Swan Lake final fight scene with Dmitri Akulinin and Von Rothbart. Photo courtesy of SPBT.

In his favour though, Dmitri does have strength and his pas de deux partnering was perfectly seamless, just don’t expect dramatic solos. Unfortunately the same can be said for most of the male soloists, who lacked personality, precision and punch. Particularly the jester (Erkin Rakhmatulaev) and tutor (Dmitri Shevtsov) appeared a little too rehearsed, occasionally anticipating the others’ gestures too soon, effectively stealing any sense of spontaneity.

The notable exception here would be Rothbart performed by Dimchik Saikeev, who was powerfully menacing, further enhanced by his excellent costume changes and eerie red-eyed make-up. But even Rothbart and Odette’s presence couldn’t save the final fight scene from Siegfried’s unconvincing triumph. “Oh. Look. Um. I think I tore off Rothbart’s wing.”

Four little swans in perfect timing. Photo by Sarah Weyman.

Flying in formation

Acting skills aside though, when it comes to drama, SPBT still delivers plenty with their grand sets, bejewelled costumes and then there’s the corps de ballet of mesmerising swans, so perfectly in time and in sync, moving together as if by Russian magic.

The four little swans were particularly brilliant with their strong and fast footwork and their tick-tock, up-down, left-right movements. See more photos from their rehearsals below.

Though the stage did, at times, seem a tad small for SPBT’s big production, Montecasino’s impressive Teatro is perhaps still the most appropriate venue for Swan Lake, with seats rising all the way up to the clouds. And with Tchaikovsky’s haunting melodies delivered by the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra, it made for a rich and dreamy ballet experience.

If you haven’t done so yet, I’d suggest you make quick about booking those tickets (here), as 75% of the seats were already sold prior to opening night. It may be a while before you get to see such a grand performance of Swan Lake in South Africa by such a ballet company in high demand around the world.

Also, find out all the fascinating behind-the-scenes facts in this Swan Lake ballet infographic.

Have you seen this ballet yet? What were your thoughts? Whether you agree or disagree, tell us in the comments below.

The best of the Swan Lake rehearsal photos…

Click on the first photo to open the gallery.

As far as we can tell, St Petersburg Ballet Theatre (SPBT) is the only classical ballet company in the world to be completely independent of government aid or sponsors’ funding – an impressive achievement in today’s art world. But to run the ballet as a business, they have to consistently deliver top-class performances and many of them. The company gives around 200 to 250 performances every year.

The making of SPBT’s Swan Lake

With this infographic, we take a quick snapshot of their tours and travels so far in 2013 with a bunch of fascinating facts you probably didn’t know about the making of Swan Lake…

Swan Lake in SA

You can read more about SPBT’s South African season of Swan Lake here, which has already been extended twice with 75% of the tickets sold prior to their opening night this past Wednesday, 10 July.