Newtown Centre of Classical Ballet and Voice (NCCB) will present two free performances of Swan Lake on Sunday, June 9, at Edmond Town Hall Theatre, 45 Main Street. Performances will be at 12:30 and 3 pm.

There are no reservations. Seating is first come, first seated.

Students have been preparing for the ballet since the beginning of March. There are two exceptional casts of principal dancers — Lillian Caico and Molly Tinkler, both juniors at Newtown High School, will be performing as the white swan (Odette), and Olivia Pouder, a senior at New Milford High School will be performing as the black swan (Odile) in both shows. Noel Bernard, a recent graduate of Fordham University, will portray Prince Siegfried.

NCCB Director Tory Gozzi feels Swan Lake “is one of the most difficult ballets to produce from the repertoire.

“You have to be so precise to make the audience believe that you are truly a flock of birds — every formation has to be exact, every line straight, every wing in unison, to pull the audience into that make-believe world,” she added. “The music is so evocative of the great love story between the white swan, Odette, and the Prince. It’s also so deceptively seductive as the Prince is tricked into believing that the black swan is his lover.

“There are iconic moments in the ballet, especially the most well-known Dance of the Cygnets — four swans attached together and dancing as one to the most famous music from the ballet,” Gozzi also noted. “But my favorite is the entirety of Act 4 as Odette conveys the heartbreak of the Prince pledging his love to someone else. She seemingly conducts the entire flock of swans with every gesture and their hearts all seem as if they bleed with her same sorrow. The music is just unbelievably beautiful and the original choreography by Marius Petipa connects so deeply to it.”

The studio leader said preparing for the studio’s annual recital has been “a wonderful educational experience for our dancers, and we are thrilled to share it with local audiences.”

Reservations are not being taken for either performance but additional information may be available from Gozzi at nccballetandvoice@gmail.com or by visiting nccballetandvoice.com.