Shonibare's film Odile and Odette is inspired by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 19th-century ballet Swan Lake, in which the princess Odette is cursed by an evil sorcerer, Rothbart, to live as a swan by day and a woman by night.
Taking a solitary walk by the lake, the young Princess Odette encounters the wicked Von Rothbart. Overcome with fear, she turns and runs in the hope of escaping his evil power. However, she is not quick enough, and Von Rothbart casts a spell on Odette, transforming her into a swan.
Cursed by the sorcerer von Rothbart (often portrayed as a black owl), Odette has been turned into a white swan — the Swan Queen, in fact (as denoted by her crown). Prince Siegfried, on the eve of his marriage, meets Odette and pledges his love: and only this, Odette has told him, will break von Rothbart's spell.
As the story goes, Prince Siegfried falls in love with Odette, the queen of the swan maidens who was cursed by the sorcerer Von Rothbart to turn into a swan by day. She regains her human form at night. The spell can only be broken if someone who has never loved before would swear to love her forever.
The Demon of Swan Lake was identified as a Necturus Macalatus, an aquatic salamander or lizard that was actually part of the frog family. It's also known more commonly as a mudpuppy.
Swan Lake: The dual role of Odette and Odile | English National Ballet
Are Odile and Odette the same person?
even duality embodied in the main character; Odette, the innocent white swan, and Odile, the manipulative black swan, are portrayed by the same dancer.
Siegfried is immediately enraptured and, as the pair dance, he learns her story: she is the princess Odette who, during daylight, is condemned to be a swan, along with the other girls, after being cursed by evil sorcerer von Rothbart, who is also Siegfried's mentor.
The story imparts that through Siegfrieds love Odette can experience the freedom she desires–as his love will break the Sorcerers spell, which preserves her as a swan. Breaking the spell is a potent theme in Swan Lake. Odette embodies beauty and purity, but cannot fulfill her natural birthright as a woman.
Odile is a bit of a trickster. She has to be cunning and seductive without giving away her true identity. I try to give this role more spark and a commanding/alluring presence to deceive the prince. Odile is enthralled by the challenge of winning over Siegfried.
Odette was considered to be the best dancer of her generation before an accident caused her to become disabled. She would become a cleaner to the Opera house for the next ten years, at the same time she would work under Regine Le Haut.
Because the character of Odile is actually the evil Von Rothbart's daughter magically disguised as Odette, the two roles are most often portrayed by the same dancer, but occasionally they are danced by two different dancers in the same performance. If you could only dance one role… which swan would you be?
The story imparts that through Siegfried's love Odette can experience the freedom she desires, as his love will break the Sorcerers spell, which preserves her as a swan. Breaking the spell is a potent theme in Swan Lake. Odette embodies beauty and purity, but cannot fulfill her natural birthright as a woman.
Previously, Baron Von Rothbart transformed Princess Odette into a swan, which is the symbol of beauty and purity. Because she refused his hand in marriage, he bewitched her so that she could not marry another. Von Rothbart's expectation was that in captivity, she would eventually consent to marry him.
Odette leaps in a designated direction, gains a 1400–1800 (+150% Total Magic Power) shield, and begins gathering energy, dealing 240–320 (+90% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage to enemies within the area every 0.5 seconds for 5 seconds.
However, Baron Von Rothbart disguises himself and his daughter Odile as visiting nobles. He makes Odile—the Black Swan—look like Odette. Siegfried falls for the deception and, thinking that Odile is his love Odette, promises himself to her. This breaks his vow to Odette and their hopes of ending the curse.
The parts of Odile and Odette were originally danced by two separate dancers, but it has become customary for one ballerina to dance both parts to emphasise their similarities - and to highlight their differences.
The story of the ballet is based on a German fairy tale. This tale was probably tweaked by Tchaikovsky and his friends during the ballet's early discussion stages. Swan Lake is about a prince named Siegfried. He falls in love with the Swan princess, Odette.
Swan Lake is the love story of Prince Siegfried, who on a hunting trip encounters a flock of swans, falls in love with the Swan Queen, Odette, and swears his allegiance and undying love to her. As a result of a curse by the evil sorcerer Baron von Rothbart, Odette can only take human form between midnight and daybreak.
Most versions of Swan Lake pit the purity of the white swans against the evil of the black-cloaked magician von Rothbart and his daughter, Odile, the Black Swan.
The spell was broken and Odette comes back to life. Derek says that he truly loves her for her courage and kindness, and he always truly loved her for that. At the end of the film, Derek and Odette are married and they become future king and queen, thus; uniting their kingdoms as Derek and Odette's parents hoped.
Derek was three and a half years old. When Derek, Bromley and Odette had their accident at the treehouse, Odette was 11 and Derek was 14. This makes Derek's age at the time of the marriage proposal 21 years and Odette 18 years.
Rather than remain a swan forever, she chooses to die. He chooses to die with her and they leap into the lake, where they will stay together forever. This breaks Rothbart's spell over the swan maidens, causing him to lose his power over them and he dies.
She does truly love the Prince from the story ever since she was a child however, with being manipulated by the Raven she is deeply insecure if the Prince can truly love her which causes her to give into her vices of jealousy and possessiveness to have him.
Now, there are actually two endings for Swan Lake- the “happy” ending and the “tragic” ending. The former has Siegfried and von Rothbart fight, after which Siegfried tears off von Rothbart's wing and the curse is broken.
