Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake

If you are a ballet fan, this is a must. If you are a contemporary dance fan, this is a must. If you love Tchaikovsky, again, a must.
This incredible piece of contemporary ballet often appears at Christmas time and is worth a visit if you can get tickets. Based on the original Swan Lake story but with some very obvious changes (no tutus and more importantly male swans! ;)) and using the original music by Tchaikovsky but arranged in a different order to the classical production, Matthew Bourne has once again re-​imagined the tale of a royal who gets turned into a Swan and transposes it to tell the story of a Prince who has a strong desire to make his own choices, to be free, but it trapped by the ideals of his mother. This desire manifests itself in the image of a beautiful swan and he is brought from a pit of despair up into the embrace of the swan where he finally realises what he wants for himself and his life.
This is the basics of the story and in honour of Matthew Bourne, he is said to not believe in offering exact scenarios and wants the audience to interpret the scenarios and scenes he has created for themselves, so I will refrain from adding too much more of the plot but I can tell you that what Matthew Bourne has done is brought an archaic fairy tale of good and evil, a swan princess that gets turned into a swan as a curse by an evil entity, and given us a modern interpretation and possibly commentary on the reaction of society towards freedom of choice and, and this is just my own conclusion and not an official opinion in any way, but society’s reaction to homosexuality.
The switch of female swans to male swans completely changes the dynamic of the famous swan themes in the music of the ballet, and creates a very strong image of these majestic male swans who can be both graceful but savage as you will see as the story progresses. Matthew Bourne really does encapsulate the movements of a swan in his choreography. Certain things which I hadn’t picked up on before were the use of swans landing on water. And the dancers arms are always wings or heads so there is never any use of actual hands. Just thinking about the piece again really brings back some incredible imagery.
Bourne also uses many other dance forms in the piece, a mock ballet in the first act uses the traditional ballet style but heightens it, almost in a caricature of that traditional form. We see Jazz and modern dance in the club scene and then at the ball, as with traditional ballet when various soloists get cameos and show off their skills, we see use of flamenco, ballroom and other national dances.
So, if any of this whets your appetite for modern dance, a production that speaks volumes of the choices that we make as humans, the oppression and the freedom that we all desire, and a majestic interpretation of some of the most famous classical musical in history, then this is the production for you.
Swan Lake is still playing at Sadler’s Wells until the end of the month, so catch it when you can.
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