Expect the unexpected in a stunning take on Swan Lake
There are no women en pointe or men in tights in Ballet Preljocaj’s non-conventional version of Swan Lake, but you’ll still be impressed by this thought-provoking and highly original presentation.
There’s nothing like Swan Lake to get people flocking to the theatre. The world’s most iconic and popular ballet is a drawcard for balletomanes and newcomers alike, although a heads-up that Ballet Preljocaj’s version isn’t traditional might set expectations for the exclusive QPAC International Series season, running until Saturday.
Arts lovers are naturally celebrating the series’ return after a six-year COVID-induced hiatus. From 2009 to 2019 the series had imported some of the world’s greatest dance companies to Brisbane, making the city a cultural magnet.
And while the 17,000 attendees of Ballet Preljocaj’s 2016 QPAC International Series debut of Snow White were aware that the acclaimed French company’s approach is contemporary, not everyone in the audience on May 31’s opening night had realised just how unconventional this interpretation of Swan Lake would be. Just for starters, there are no women en pointe or men in tights.
There have been many versions of Swan Lake worldwide since the ballet’s 1895 premiere that have retained classical choreography linked with Tchaikovsky’s original score. More recent updates have recontexualised its story and setting. The best-known and acclaimed of contemporary ballet interpretations is English choreographer Matthew Bourne’s 1995 reimagining. While radical in featuring male swans, it retained Tchaikovsky’s music and matching dance elements, such as Act III’s character dances.
Angelin Preljocaj presents a bleak existential vision that remains pertinent and relatable, distilling a global impact to individual actions
You might like
In Ballet Preljocaj’s Swan Lake, created during COVID, director and choreographer Angelin Preljocaj presents a bleak existential vision that remains pertinent and relatable, distilling a global impact to individual actions.
The focus is narrowed to five named characters in the cast of 26. Here, Odette (Théa Martin) is again a woman turned into a swan. Siegfried (Antoine Dubois) and Odile (following convention, also played by Martin) are both pawns used by their fathers – men driven by wealth and power who do a deal for their children to marry.
Subscribe for updates
Siegfried’s Father (Romain Renaud), a tyrannical ruler, and Odile’s, Rothbart (Redi Shtylla), are essentially cut from the same cloth – Rothbart symbolises conscienceless businessmen and industrialists raping the environment for profit, but also retains the traditional character’s use of the dark arts. Siegfried’s Mother (Agathe Peluso) takes a prominent role alongside her husband, although eventually her caring side is revealed.
The thematic and narrative details are effectively illustrated and enhanced by a superb visual framework. Boris Labbé’s video design presents skyscrapers dominating the cold urban setting and abstract imagery conveying dissonance, offset by the lake’s simple beauty and tranquillity – then gradually, the natural setting is overtaken by industrial machinery. The impact is intensified by brooding lighting by Éric Soyer, and Igor Chapurin’s simple yet striking costuming featuring contrasting silhouettes and monochromes with pops of colour.
As he did in Snow White, Preljocaj has juxtaposed classical and modern music, adding electronic sequences by 79D plus interpolated vocalisations, clapping and stamping by the dancers. He’s cut and reordered sections of Tchaikovsky’s score while adding excerpts from the composer’s other works.
What might most challenge those quite familiar with the traditional ballet’s marriage of dances and music are mismatches between the visual image that comes to mind immediately – frequently a more intense physical and dramatic emotional dynamic – and the movement they’re seeing performed live.
This doesn’t apply to the acts involving the 16 swans and, accordingly, they’re the most satisfying and successful, featuring patterns and imagery that are both lovely and quirky, conjuring bird wings and heads, and also the impression of taking flight. Beautiful lifts capture a romantic connection between Odette and Siegfried and inject a degree of emotion somewhat lacking elsewhere.
Much of the other group choreography deconstructs elements of classical movement – it’s often pitched off-centre or accented by unusual arm lines and quirky elements such as body rolls or hip circles. The latter features amusingly in a reworked version of the famed four cygnets routine. It got a good laugh, but that would have been even bigger with more precise execution.
Some sections are literally pedestrian, the dancers walking forward and backward and changing directions in various patterns while executing a sequence of arm positions changing on each count. Although the sense of regimentation may have been intentional (given the theme of industrialisation and its impact), at times throughout the work the use of unison and repetition felt excessive, especially given the running time of almost two hours without an interval.
This isn’t a Swan Lake that will thrill you with its virtuosity, but it does impress with its thought-provoking concept, originality, accessibility and stunning presentation.
Ballet Preljocaj’s Swan Lake continues at QPAC until June 7.