An overhead shot of a corps de ballet of swans, creating a formation of eight spokes surrounding a single dancer, Odette, in the middle. Each spoke includes four dancers. Odette kneels on one leg and extends the other to the front, bending over with her arms draped overhead. The corps dancers stand in a tendu derriere lunge, with one arm extended forward and one backward.

Paris Opéra Ballet in Swan Lake. Photo by Natalia Voronova, courtesy POB.

Paris Opéra Ballet’s Swan Lake Comes to IMAX Movie Theaters

Catie Robinson

November 1, 2024

If you’ve ever wished it were appropriate to eat popcorn at the ballet, you’re in luck. This month, you’ll have the chance to experience a full-length ballet at your local cinema. Paris Opéra Ballet’s production of Swan Lake will be shown in IMAX theaters from November 8–10, 2024. This production is the first ballet filmed in IMAX and promises closer-than-ever footage of every swan feather, fluttering arm, and facial expression as the classic story unfolds.

Sae Eun Park, as Odette, leans back onto Paul Marque's chest. Marque, as Prince Seigfried, wraps his arms around Park to hold her arms in front as they rest on her white pancake tutu. Park leans her head back on Marque's right shoulder, a pained and passionate look on her face. Marque looks out into the distance. — Sae Eun Park and Paul Marque in *Swan Lake*. Photo by Natalia Voronova, courtesy POB.

The filmed production features étoile Sae Eun Park as Odette/Odile, étoile Paul Marque as Prince Siegfried, and premier danseur Pablo Legasa as the sorcerer Rothbart. (Park has been one of POB’s most celebrated star dancers since she was named étoile in 2021, the first Korean woman to ascend to the highest rank in the company.)

The production was filmed over four days, two of which were sans audience to allow the camera operators to stand onstage and navigate through the choreography for views that even a front-row seat can’t provide. Other cameras were anchored in the audience for a more traditional angle of the stage. The film’s trailer also hints at aerial perspectives of the choreography, offering a look at the multifaceted formations that cannot be seen when the ballet is performed live in theaters.

Like many other presentations of ballets in cinema, this Swan Lake is produced and distributed worldwide by Pathé Live, which most recently shared Dutch National Ballet’s Giselle, starring Olga Smirnova and Jacopo Tissi.

Cinema tic k ets to Swan Lake are available now at the production’s website.