Swan Lake, revisited: June 28th, 2024 (Europa Ballett, St. Pölten)

Jul 1

Jul 1 Swan Lake, revisited: June 28th, 2024 (Europa Ballett, St. Pölten)

Swan Lake, revisited: June 28th, 2024 (Europa Ballett, St. Pölten)

Copyright: Ricardo Leitner / a t t i t u d e

I do not believe in coincidences and these last weeks of the 2023/24 Season in Vienna made me occupy myself intensely with Swan Lake. A good thing that I had not done in years. The main focus, the emphasis used in different versions means enough material to analyze and study for years – going from Petipas, who created this most Russian of ballets to my preferred versions by Ashton, and Robert Helpmann. From the revolutionary Matthew Bourne's adaptation to the not-well-succeeded Nureyev's egocentric „Siegfried's Lake".

Having danced the piece for more than 25 years as well as having worked in 25 (!!!) different versions of it, it came to me as no surprise that Peter Breuer would one day do his version of „Swan Lake". A story that led him to his interpretation of a „Fairy tale". A Story that has been told many times and, in this case, uses his more than intrinsic relation to it acquired during the many years of studying this most unique of ballets. Why unique? Because it possesses perhaps the purest and most simple storyline of the classics, making it a distinguished work. If a person walks into a theatre with no idea of what is supposed to happen on stage, this same person would not need to have the story told. The libretto says it all. Simply. And purely. It does not have the complications of a „Mayerling" (to which a study of Austrian History is nearly a necessity to understand the characters), it has a much simpler line than most of the classics. It is about the good against the bad. That simple. But exactly because of that it leads through a whole world of interpretations. And that is exactly what this other reading is all about.

Perhaps, except Matthew Bourne's 1995 version, this is the only one in which the characters played by the swans are quite an aggressive bunch of creatures, which made me think of Elsa Lanchester's character's composition on „The Bride of Frankenstein" and the „creature's scream" which she based on the aggressive swans swimming on Hyde Park. All very far away from the majestic and white characters created not only in Ballets but also in literature, the poetic silent version of a bird that never flies, that knows one song and never sings it – until the moment of her death, as beautifully described by Molnár in his play „The Swan".

The „Is it a dream or reality?" question that haunts the whole production is the center point and turns it into a palpable matter. It suits very well the use of very contemporary movements, much more related to our present times than to the original time in which Tchaikovsky composed it.

Notably the Corps de Ballet, The Swans, consisted of only 12 girls. This is just a fact, that has to do with the size of the company but did not interfere with the storytelling and perhaps even brought a certain intimacy to the story.

Siegfried's mentor (or tutor), played very effectively by Benjamin Skupien, gives the character a certain depth, a „Je n'est sais quoi" of a counterpoint to the Mother (played by Rachel Carrier), who, in her turn does not have much of what could be called sympathy, making it quite clear that her relation to the son is not one really blessed with care and tenderness.

A pleasant delight was to witness Mihail Sosnovschi as Rothbart. One of these cases, which no one will ever be able to understand, was Mr Sosnovschi being fired from The Vienna State Ballet before the start of the direction period of Mr Martin Schläpfer. Apart from the fact that one does not fire a person one has never worked with (that was the case with many dancers from the company), the Opera lost a public „darling" and a strong box-office magnet.

Siegfried was played with exuberance and technical quality by Florient Cador, who is also a public „darling" in St. Pölten. It is very refreshing to see and realize how Mr Cador builds the characters he is entitled to play. They have such coherence in the way they are built, not consisting of just superficialities and amenities that could be better related to a „peel". No. They are profound, though of elements, and all this, combined with his strength while jumping and his delicacy doing pirouettes, turned his interpretation of this boy, who matures through love, is disappointed by betrayal, and has a sad end, into something very special.

Nichika Shibata had the difficult task of more or less leading the evening. Not an easy task for such a young dancer. She radiates a quality that I can only describe as inner calmness and presentness. She is „right there" all the time. Confident without being arrogant about her pouvoir of mastering „technicalities" which can be very intricate in Mr Breuer's choreographies. He gives a lot to his dancers but he also demands a lot from them. A good and healthy way of giving and taking. Miss Shibata masters it all. A gifted dancer with a great quantum of sensitivity (and sensibility).

Due to unforeseen weather conditions (it rained two hours before the show), the stage began „to perspire" on the floor after a while and that caused quite some difficulty for the dancers. The water absorbed by the floor began to come to the surface through the grooves, causing (many) unintended slips. For a while, the situation was quite earnest, and, as I later found out, many thought, as I did, that the show would have to be interrupted. But the Dancers behaved fabulously and bravely. After the show, I found out that no injuries had occurred and that was a blessing.

A delightful evening, even though a bit nerve-wracking. Highly recommendable.

Ricardo Leitner

Vienna, June 29th, 2024