The Proserpine Entertainment Centre (PEC) will be hosting a free screening of the Australian premiere of Ballet Preljocaj’s Swan Lake on 14 & 15 June 2025, which was filmed during the exclusive Brisbane season at Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s (QPAC) Lyric Theatre.
Founded in 1985 by maverick French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj, the Aix-en-Provence-based Ballet Preljocaj last wowed audiences in Queensland in 2016 with the sell-out season of Snow White at QPAC and is world renowned for warping the experience of ballet.
The contemporary ballet company is fueled by Preljocaj’s propensity for collaboration, with a roll call of artistic partnerships boasting the likes of costumes by Jean Paul Gaultier and Azzedine Alaïa to scores by Thomas Bangalter (Daft Punk) and Nicolas Godin (Air).
Famed for his iconoclastic deconstruction of great story ballets, Preljocaj’s Swan Lake is a dystopian juxtaposition of corporate greed – in which Siegfried is the son of a wealthy property developer – and the pristine environment of the swans, which sees Odette and the Prince as eco-warriors battling the fossil-fueled industrialist Rothbart.
While he has leaned on some elements of Marius Pepita and Lev Ivanov’s original choreography, this is Swan Lake reimagined by Preljocaj with ‘audacity and respect' and challenges ballet norms with a run time of less than two hours with no interval.
To extend the reach of the Australian premiere season at QPAC, between Friday 13 and Sunday 15 June, 17 venues around the state will host special screenings of Ballet Preljocaj’s Swan Lake, with music by Queensland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Johannes Fritzsch, performed and recorded in Brisbane.
The Queensland-only broadcast will be free to attend at the Proserpine Entertainment Centre on both the 14 & 15 June at 11am.
Swan Lake ballet. Stock Image