Mad about the Swan

As the Russian State Ballet prepares to open Dublin's new Grand Canal Theatre tonight with 'Swan Lake', CHRISTIE TAYLOR SEAVERexplores why the classic ballet still fascinates

AFTER MORE THAN 100 years, Swan Lakestill sends patrons flocking to the box office, and when the Russian State Ballet inaugurates Dublin's new Grand Canal Theatre with its version tonight, an age-old tradition of falling under the Swan Queen's spell continues.

From the feathered dancers criss-crossing the stage to Tchaikovsky's beloved score, Swan Lakegrabs attention. In addition to its pleasing aesthetics, the story excludes the fairies and life-sized dolls used in other full-length ballets to push the plots forward, instead opting for a simple theme of good versus evil that still prevails 133 years after the ballet's premiere.

For a ballet that has enjoyed such longevity, Swan Lake's beginnings were less than auspicious. The director of Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre originally commissioned Tchaikovsky to write the score, and enlisted ballet-master Julius Reisinger, whose lacklustre dances provoked outrage from critics at the opening. Audiences too recognised that they were no match for the music, and a few years later at Moscow's other illustrious theatre, the Maryinsky, choreographers Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa took matters into their own hands, crafting a version to which most ballet companies pay homage today, including the one opening the Grand Canal Theatre.

Choreographers have swooned over the music for generations, and every major company now has a production of Swan Lakein its repertoire. But Tchaikovsky never witnessed its real success since he died of cholera nearly two years before Ivanov and Petipa's rendition made it to the stage.

Thepassionate romance at the centre of the ballet is doomed from the start. Other ballet heroines, often princesses or peasant girls, pursue their love under more conventional circumstances, but the Swan Queen, Odette, a mysterious creature of the night, is only allowed to change from a bird into a woman between midnight and dawn, through permission granted by the sorcerer Von Rothbart. During one of these transformations she meets Prince Siegfried, who falls in love with her, but who is tricked into pledging his heart to Odile, her lookalike in disguise. Because of this deception, Odette the Swan Queen remains chained to her avian destiny, although she continues to love the prince.

The story was originally written as a tragedy, with Odette and the prince drowning themselves into the lake in the final act. But in Imperialist Russia, the Tsar insisted everything on stage close happily. Many Russian companies still employ an alternate ending where the Swan Queen and Siegfried ultimately reunite.

Through the ballet’s four acts the Swan Queen nobly leads her cadre of swans with elegant, long-necked preening and ethereal wing-fluttering. As choreographer George Balanchine and dance critic Francis Mason wrote in their account of the ballet, “even in this magical world she inhabits, she is never unreal or absurd to us, because we see that love does not shatter her dignity; rather, it ennobles her beauty and explains her universal appeal”.

This is why ballerinas the world over dream of dancing the lead role, despite its exceptional challenges. In most versions the same dancer performs the parts of the heartbreakingly in-love Odette and the conniving Odile, requiring remarkable character changes.

Joanna Banks, longtime director of the College of Dance in Dublin, who has performed Swan Lakewith the Royal Ballet, the Canadian National Ballet and the Bavarian State Ballet, says Swan Lakealways evokes reverence. "It's a story everyone can relate to – one of love, betrayal, regret," Banks says.

It also requires unparalleled coordination from the corps de ballet, whose movements in Act II and IV are some of the most precise in the classical repertoire.

“If one person makes a misstep, it messes up the whole thing. In that sense there’s a huge sense of responsibility,” Banks adds. “But of the hundreds of times I’ve done the ballet, I’ve never tired of it, and I believe it’s because of that wonderful Tchaikovsky score.”

Dancers may adore the music, but orchestra members need stamina to perform it.

"The oboe in some ways is the star of the show," says Paul Murphy, principal conductor with the Birmingham Royal Ballet, which presents its version of Swan Lakein the UK this summer. "But then again everyone in the orchestra has a lot to do in Swan Lake.For instance the strings are always busy, particularly the leader, due to the many violin solos."

Murphy says there are brief moments when Swan Lakeis revealed as Tchaikovsky's first ballet score. "I think the scenario Tchaikovsky was initially given was lengthy, so the music may be overextended in places. But the orchestration is superb. One of the greatest things he does is the way he evokes the spirit of the dead – the music is brilliant in telling that story."

All performances of the Russian State Ballet's Swan Lakeat Grand Canal Theatre are sold out

GLIDING INTO A NEW KIND OF DUBLIN THEATRE:

Until now large productions in Dublin had a choice between condensing a large show into a tighter space at the Gaiety, or filling the expanse at the O2, often with amplified music. So there’s lots of curiousity about what the state-of-the-art new Libeskind-designed Grand Canal Theatre will be like for performances when it opens its doors for the first time tonight.

Dublin’s only purpose-built theatre for ballet, opera and large-scale musicals, and with a full orchestra pit, excellent technical and backstage facilities and six bars, it will seat 2,111 in stall, circle, upper circle and boxes. Despite the size of the auditorium, it has a relatively intimate feel, helped by the plush red theatrical — as opposed to sleek modern — style.