Okay . . . so . . . I’m posting a review of a ballet. This may seem a bit strange considering this
blog’s supposed “mission statement”.
When someone says they’re doing a “geeky” take on fairy tales, most
people don’t expect things to take such a “high culture” turn. After all, “geek culture” is usually
considered to have more of a connection to “low culture” or even “junk
culture”. You may say I’ve sold out and
drifted off-mission. Well, first of all,
I’d say you’re wrong. For one thing, the
modern, evolved definition of “geekiness” has less to do with specific arts and
more to do with the unrestrained enthusiasm with which people enjoy
things. Actor and comedian Simon Pegg
once said (and I may be paraphrasing) “Being a geek means not having to play it
cool about something you love”. Also, as
InkGypsy reminded me in the comments of the last part of this feature, the
ballet reaches to a far greater spectrum of classes than many would think. After all, we still live in a world where
little girls are still often given ballet lessons at a young age, regardless of
social stratum. I figure that if we live
in a world where nerdcore rapper Adam Warrock (who routinely raps about stuff
like Marvel Comics and Joss Whedon’s show Firefly) can write rap songs about the opera La Boheme, it’s not too much of a stretch for Fairy Tale Fandom to
cover ballet. Also, whether you’re
“high-falootin” or “low-falootin”, humanity just loves a story. Ballet is essentially story conveyed through
music, motion and dance. I may not know
much about dance, but I do know a thing or two about story. So, I present my review of The Royal Ballet
Covent Garden’s production of Swan
Lake
Now,
admittedly, this is kind of an old production.
It’s dated at 1982, which is as old as me. However, it must be a classic because a quick
search suggests that they still show a variation of this performance at the
Royal Opera House. I could have used the
Matthew Bourne version, which features an all-male corps of swans. However, as something of a ballet novice I
thought it would be better to go with something more traditional. Now, the primary players in this production
include Anthony Dowell as Prince Siegfried, Derek Rencher as Baron Von Rothbart
and Natalia Makarova as Odette and Odile.
I actually have a more modern photo of her right here:
Now, the way this DVD is set up is that each act starts with
a synopsis presented by a narrator. This
is actually rather helpful if you don’t know the story particularly well. Anyway, the first thing I notice when the
curtain goes up is how familiar the music is.
This music has probably been playing in the background of things my
whole life and I never knew what it was.
I recognize the main theme from the opening of Universal’s Dracula, of
all places. The first act starts with
Prince Siegfried celebrating his 21st birthday. There’s a party, some villagers are in
attendance and his old Tutor (Gary Grant) is apparently playing the role of
chaperone. Things are going well, and
then the queen arrives. She tells
Siegfried (through “ballet mime” in this case) that he’s played around enough
and that she’s planned a ball where he’s meant to pick out a future wife. Here would be a good point to point out one
of the misconceptions about ballet: not everyone is dancing all the time. When I was younger, I figured that all the
characters in a ballet had to be dancing all the time. The queen does not dance. She shows up, talks in mime and that’s
it. Anyway, Siegfried is not happy with
this idea. However, his friends convince
him to go hunting and try out his brand new crossbow. Act two ends with the group of friends
chasing after a flock of swans they see in the sky.
Act two
begins with Siegfried arriving at a lake all by his lonesome. There, he meets Odette. The two “talk” and we get the usual
story. She’s been enchanted by Von
Rothbart and needs a declaration of love in order to fully regain her human
form and all that (we’ve kind of covered this in my last two
installments). It’s here that we
actually first see Baron Von Rothbart in, actually a kind of badass owl
costume. Seriously, he’s rather imposing
compared to the goofy version from The Swan Princess. I might even wear that costume for Halloween
if I had the chance (I wish I had a picture to post). Anyway, we get a few dance numbers. There’s one between Siegfried and Odette as
well as some that show off the talents of the swan maidens. The whole act ends with Siegfried trying to
shoot at Von Rothbart and Odette stopping him.
Then, Siegfried makes his promise to declare his love at the ball and
then leaves.
Act three
is the big, opulent ball scene. Lots of
dancing! This seems to be the big chance
for the cast to show off their dancing skills.
There’s a waltz of prospective brides as well as a Spanish dance,
Hungarian dance, Neapolitan dance and Polish dance. Now, when all this is done, Odile enters the
picture led in by Von Rothbart in his human form (not as impressive as the owl
form, but still not bad). Naturally,
Odile is the spitting image of Odette (they’re played by the same ballerina)
but she’s dressed all in black. Also,
the music is different, indicating that there’s something not quite right. Siegfried and Odile have a very long, intense
dance number. Odette sees all of it,
though. They do this by projecting a
moving image of Odette on the windows of the ballroom set. For 1982, it’s a pretty good way of having
two of the same performer in the same place at the same time. Anyway, it ends with Siegfried making his
declaration of love (which Odette also sees from the window). Here, Von Rothbart has his triumphant laugh
and reveals his ruse. Then, the whole
party just falls apart. Before moving on
to act four, I’d like to point out how helpful the pre-act synopsis was for
this act. It was only in this version
and in the synopsis that they explained that Von Rothbart had replaced Odette
with his own daughter. That adds a whole
other layer to the story.
Now, act
four with its grand finale is where I start to lose track of the story a little bit. I know that Odette flies back to the lake to
drown herself and her flock intervenes.
I know that Siegfried runs there to try and make amends. I also know that they decide to drown
themselves together (this is one of the sad endings). However, I don’t remember them actually,
y’know, offing themselves. I do know
that they left the stage at a certain point but I don’t remember them doing it
with any feeling of finality. I do remember Von Rothbart chewing the
scenery quite a bit as their sacrifice affects him and he dies as well. I’m kind of left wondering what ever happened
to Odile, though. Anyway, the whole
thing ends with Prince Siegfried and Odette appearing on a big, heavenly swan
boat indicating they’re together and happy in the next world.
Well, this
has been a first. Not a first ballet
(I’ve watched two previously on PBS) but the first time I’ve actually had to
think about one enough to actually write about it. I do like the story and Tchaikovsky’s music
is excellent. I’ve even been thinking
about adapting the story into a storytelling performance. If there were anything that turned me off in
all this it’s that I kind of wish there were less dance numbers that didn’t
seem to contribute to the story. Some of
the swan dances that did not include Odette, for example. However, I feel that that’s probably just in
the nature of the art form. Sometimes in
ballet, you just need to have dance for the sake of dance. I wish I knew more about dance so I could
understand the significance. One nice
thing about doing this project is that along the way I discovered some of the
most interesting takes on Swan
Lake Swan
Lake
Anyway, it’s been quite a week and I thank you for joining
me for The Swan Lake Project.
Possibly the most excellent review of a ballet I've read from someone who isn't a balletomane. I have no doubt your post will be referenced a lot in future. Kudos!
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