The Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Swan Lake is a completely different version to the one currently danced by its sister company at the Royal Opera House. The BRB’s Swan Lake is by Sir Peter Wright (now celebrating his centenary year) and Galina Samsova, after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. It is a dark production in many ways, beginning with the funeral of the King and the subsequent pressure on young Prince Siegfried to settle down and find a wife.
On opening night at Sadler’s Wells, Cuban dancer Yasiel Hodelín was suitably morose in Act I, reluctantly joining in his birthday celebrations. He has a fine stage presence that will grow in time and is a strong partner – Cuba produces excellent dancers and Carlos Acosta, BRB’s director and himself from Cuba, is obviously keen to nurture talent from around the world. Riku Ito, as Siegfried’s friend Benno, displayed an impressive jump and my eye was drawn to him whenever he was on the stage.
There are some interesting choreographic changes throughout the ballet: the Act I pas de trois now becomes a pas de quatre, with Siegfried joining in some of the dancing, and in the ballroom scene, the three prospective fiancées (giving each other some wonderfully bitchy looks) have their own pretty variations.
Hodelín’s Odette/Odile was Yu Kurihara, born in Japan but trained at the Royal Ballet School. Her mime scene soon after her first appearance was very clear and she brought a touching vulnerability to the famous Act II pas de deux.
I preferred her Odette to her Odile, which though technically impressive, lacked subtlety and was all flash – she overdid the “swan” arms when luring Siegfried to his doom. The famous fouettés posed no problem, with Kurihara’s Odile both powerful and alluring.
The main drawback with this production is the design. Philip Prowse’s costumes and sets are dark – there is a lot of black, which adds to the bleak atmosphere. I do not like the swan maidens’ tutus, which are droopy and echo Degas’ Little Dancer sculpture, while in Act III the dancers are hampered by heavy costumes and some truly ridiculous headgear.
The Royal Ballet Sinfonia under Paul Murphy took Tchaikovsky’s score at a slow pace in Act II but zipped along during the Act III national dances – the Czardas and Neapolitan numbers always get a lot of applause.
The curtain rose on the final act to the stage covered in dry ice, which threatened to sink into the orchestra pit and overcome the musicians, but it did look spectacular when the swan maidens emerged out of the mist and began dancing – the audience gasped at the sheer beauty of the scene.
This production is now 45 years old, and though the dancing is impressive, it is, perhaps, time for a revamp with fresh designs.
Swan Lake
Birmingham Royal Ballet
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