Swan Lake

Swan Lake is a Ballet of Matthew Bourne, created in 1995, on the music of Tchaïkovski.

The major surprise of this interpretation comes from what the two acts of Lev Ivanov are danced in force and power by men only rather than in grace and lightness by women. In the remainder of the representation, the corps de ballet is mixed and the Chorégraphie strongly supports the sexué aspect of the relations between men and women.

By replacing the swan S incarnated by women by a male unit threatening, Matthew Bourne Marie dances, elegance, humor and MIME to present a modern Lac of the swans , provocant and seizing: Swan Lake transforms one of the ballets most appreciated in the world into a contemporary Conte, proposing to the public a sincere and deepened analysis human love, social oppression and capacity of imagination.

This original creation was the ballet of which the representations lasted longest with London and with Broadway.

Distribution of the main roles

the swan: Adam Cooper
the prince: Scott To pace
the queen: Fiona Chadwick

New Philharmonic Orchestra is directed by David Lloyd-Jones.

version DVD date of the same year and is produced by BBC and NVC Arts.

Rewards and recognitions

Swan Lake gains more than 30 international rewards of theater, including 3 Tony Award S at the time of its passage to Broadway.

An interview of Matthew Bourne

At the time of the resumption of its spectacle with Paris, Matthew Bourne gave an interview which clarifies its design of the ballet in general and of the Lac of the swans in particular.

What attracts you in traditional works?

a superb music and superb stories. But over all, I must say that it is the music which attracts me initially. I do not have formal musical formation and I can thus only study the music by listening to it very often until I have the impression to include/understand (...). It is necessary that I passionately like the partition with which I work and that I feel the desire to communicate to the public. This is why I am attracted by large the Ballet S and by the music of Tchaïkovski in particular. It is so melody, dramatic, palpitating that I never weary myself any (...). The great ballets also have very simple but powerful scenarios, which are interested in the universal topics of the love and treason, the good and the evil and create a constant atmosphere of magic and mystery. From there, I can develop a very personal version around the history of origin.

What particularly attracted you in the Lac of the Swans ?

It is the first ballet to which I assisted, interpreted by Scottish Ballet in 1979. Previously, my only contacts with the dance had been with the Cinéma and in the musical comedies. My idol was Fred Astaire. I was very surprised by the speed of the movement of the swans. As I had never seen ballet, I thought that it would be a spectacle majestic and lyric but they was odd and marvellous. I was bitten! (...) The variety of this work attracts me also much. I foresaw the possibility of creating a very human history, equipped with an enormous dramatic potential, of letting to me go to my more satirical and humorous tendencies while creating whole continuations of movements abstracted, all that on the music of dance among best the never made up ones. Irresistible!

Why a male swan?

the idea of a male swan is completely logical for me: the force, the beauty, the span of the wings of these birds points out the musculature of a dancer much more to me than a Ballerine in white Tutu. The ballerina succeeds in suggesting the serene beauty of the bird which slips on water but one of these images which we studied during the repetitions was a film with the idle of a swan which attacked a small fishing vessel (to protect his small, I believe) and it was terrifying. We wanted to express the more violent side of the swans. It was also easier to create a new choreography and new images with this change of sex. The vision of a ballerina in the role of the swan is encrusted so much in the spirit with each one which it would have been extremely difficult to replace this image by my ideas if I had used dancers. By using men, one erases all these images in the spirit of the public and one releases his imagination (...).

I also think that I wanted to make experiments with the male dance, of trying to create something of beautiful and lyric for the dancers by leaving their absolutely intact virility. I also wanted that the scenes where the swans appear are in charge with sexuality, sensuality and audacity, but without the parade of egos machists which is the prerogative of many choreographies carried out for dancers.

Why the transposition at the royal Court of England?

the Lac of the swans always had like subject the problems of a royal marriage. The Queen wants that the Prince marries a Princess, the Prince wants to marry by love, etc My version of the Lac is much closer to us because of the period during which the action proceeds (between 1950 and today), and I do not deny that our royal characters resemble certain members of the saga of the Windsor. But our research has covered a range much broader royal characters for 150 years (...). The difference between the public life and the private life of a royal character is also a field fascinating to explore. I fear that we did not return the private life and the public life of our also horrible Prince one only the other but that contributes to create the emotional vacuum which is in the middle of its unhappy existence and which is absolutely essential in the history of the Lac of the swans .

Random links: