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Too simple for its own good

Still a timeless beauty, this Swan Lake has its missteps

By Brooke Edge
For The Prague Post
April 4th, 2007 issue

PHOTO BY PETER BRENKUS
Petr Kolář as Lord Rothbart in a production that preserves the classic choreography but adds nothing new.
When the curtain rises on the prologue of the State Opera’s new production of Swan Lake, the sinister enchantment of Princess Odette and her transformation into the Queen of the Swans is already under way. She is enveloped by a soaring, sweeping blackness, an effect that suggests this will be a rendition of the famous ballet steeped in mysterious, intriguing beauty.
Unfortunately, that hope is quickly dispelled with the curtain’s next ascent, on the ballet’s first scene. All grace and wonder in this production is reserved for the sections that give Swan Lake its title, in the realm of the swans. When they, notably Odette, take the stage, the ballet comes alive. The remainder of the performance is simply filler between breathtaking and beautifully executed samples of timeless choreography.
Swan Lake

When: April 9 and 11 at 7
Where: Prague State Opera
Tickets: 100–1,150 Kč at Bohemia Ticket and at the venue

The vast majority of Swan Lake performances over the past 110-plus years have been based on the 1895 choreography of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov for St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre. (A bit of history: The original Swan Lake debuted in Russia in 1877 with choreography by Czech ballet master Václav Reisinger. His creation, however, was soundly trashed by critics, so the original choreography is now commonly credited to the Russians, with no mention of the Czechs.) Some sections of the Petipa/Ivanov choreography have been lost to time, and choreographers have had fun plugging holes with their own ideas ever since.
This new version of Swan Lake is the work of Petipa and Ivanov, accented by Pavel Ďumbala, chief executive of the State Opera Ballet, and Hana Vláčilová, the famous Czech ballerina and ballet master at the State Opera.
Ďumbala is quoted in the program as saying that he hopes the new choreography will be easily understandable, especially for children. Perhaps he and Vláčilová took that mission a bit too far, as an overwhelming sense of simplicity accompanies many of the corps de ballet scenes. This provides an uncomplimentary contrast to the choreography of Petipa and Ivanov, well-known for its technical difficulty.
Unfortunately, the company dancers didn’t bring much liveliness to the crowd scenes at the March 29 premiere. They appeared as bored with the new steps as I was, and no one shone for the entire first scene.
In the role of the Jester, Yuri Kolva would certainly have been impressive in my high-school ballet program’s annual performances. But messy landings from double pirouettes don’t belong on the stage of the State Opera. And during the pas de trois, a highlight for many Swan Lake fans, I was distracted during Ondřej Novotný’s solo by a corps member miming a sip of wine in the background. True, the mime sipped quite impressively. But it’s an indication of the weakness of the soloist that my gaze was so easily diverted.
The ballet is revived, however, with the debut of the swans and a return to Ivanov’s choreography (in the 1895 version, Ivanov choreographed the fanciful swan sequences, while Petipa took the “real-life” scenes of Acts I and III). In the roles of the Prince and Odette, Michal Štípa and Nikola Márová (both guest performers on loan from the National Theater) are nearly flawless. A silver lining of the dull first scene is that these two dancers’ technical precision and personalities shine even more brilliantly as a follow-up.
Perhaps it’s their long necks, arms and legs. Whatever the reason, ballerinas are always enchanting when they portray swans, and this production is no exception. The corps of swans is enchanting, particularly the crowd-pleasing “Four Little Swans” variation.
Most notably, Márová is stunning in the double roles of Odette and Odile, the black swan created by the nefarious Lord Rothbart as a dark doppelganger to Odette. The Odette/Odile performance is a basic requirement of any ballerina worth her prima pointe shoes, and Márová certainly fills them.
Her Odette was demure and graceful, and her Odile fiercely animalistic. Márová conveyed the markedly different characters best through her eyes — no small feat in a cavernous theater. With the transformation from Odette to Odile, her face turned upward to reveal a piercing, sparkling stare. In perhaps her only notable misstep, Márová lost that flash during Odile’s obligatory 32 fouetté turns. Márová executes them skillfully, but her eyes betray an intense concentration that temporarily removes her from the character.
The title Swan Lake is often the first that comes to mind when people think of classical ballet. And the images of white tutus and feathered headdresses are iconic for a reason — Petipa and Ivanov’s choreography has proved to be timelessly, irresistibly beautiful.
Audience members who attend the State Opera’s newest rendition of the famed ballet will have to sit through some subpar segments that don’t do the classic work justice. But, if they’re patient, they will be rewarded with the old favorites, performed with aplomb by some of the Czech Republic’s most skilled dancers.

Brooke Edge can be reached at features@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (4/04/2007):

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