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"Swan Lake"
The National Ballet of Canada
Opera House, The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts
Washington, DC, USA
Wednesday, January 18, 2006

by George Jackson

copyright ©2006 by
George Jackson  

Odette, the royal maiden transformed into a swan, dances stiffly and with a constricted line whereas Siegfried, the prince who wants to come to her rescue, moves pliantly and on an expansive scale. At first it seemed the particular performers' doings but after seeing three different sets of principals, it dawned on me that's how James Kudelka wants it in his version of "Swan Lake". Similarly for characterizations. Kudelka's Odette is as much a tool of Rothbart, harbinger of doom, as Odile, her double. Both women seem remote, Odette as the perpetual victim and Odile as the persistent tease. Siegfried makes a more immediate impact. Yet, despite the generous stretch and plush landings in his dancing, he either broods or is up-tight and in both states appears to be a vain boy.  

Guillaume Cote, who was cast as Siegfried on Jan. 18, the Canadians' second night, danced at last year's Valentine's Day gala in New York. He was substituting on that occasion and made a most likeable impression. As Bournonville's James in an excerpt from "La Sylphide," Cote appeared fresh, strong and at ease in his role. Here in Washington his acting was stylized, like that of two others I saw as Siegfried. All three men could have been brothers, so similar was their behavior and even their facial makeup. Bodies differed. Cote's is longer in the legs than that of opening night's Aleksandar Antonijevic, not quite as strong, and he is a tad less classical and more romantic.

Heather Ogden, the Odette and Odile, also looked different than previously. She had danced Dulcinea in Balanchine's "Don Quixote" with the Suzanne Farrell Ballet last summer. Although she was making her debut in that role, Ogden appeared more spontaneous than in this "Swan Lake". Keeping movement close to the body is work even for someone with compact anatomy and Ogden looked hard at it. She managed the steps ably, save for a few of Odile's last fouettes, but in keeping with Kudelka's concept there was no luxuriating.

This Canadian "Swan Lake" isn't just about the ballerina and her dual role or the danseur noble's susceptibility to beings from the wild. Rothbart, like Milton's Lucifer and Goethe's Mephistopheles, is on the verge of taking over the action. He pops up everywhere, has more costume changes than any other character, seems more normal than Siegfried's formidable mother, the Queen, yet causes irreparable harm. Christopher Body's rendering of the role, again, was strikingly similar to that of my two other Rothbarts. The three men differed mainly in body type. Benno, described as Siegfried's friend, is a Siegfried in the making. Patrick Lavoie, in the part on Jan. 18, was scheduled to dance the prince a few days later. He's on the tall side and carries himself well but with less pliancy than Antonijevic or Cote. Rebekah Rimsay's Russian Princess has dignity and spunk for a character in a humiliating situation; close-to-the-body dancing suits her.  

All the roles differ to some degree from those in traditional stagings, but to what end? With Siegfried almost an anti-hero, Odette and Odile suspiciously close to being mechanical dolls from Coppelius' workshop, and Rothbart nearly human, what is Kudelka's concept? What insights do the choreographer's almost symmetrical ensembles give into Begitchev and Geltser's story or Tchaikovsky's music? Why do these swans sometimes limp? Are the all-male corps passages (Act 1 and start of Act 3) supposed to balance those of the swan maidens (Acts 2 and 4)? Why display Siegfried's candidate brides as if they were being auctioned in a slave market? What would be the point of the dance for Rothbart and four swans (Act 4) even if it were a less tedious accumulation of steps? Is raising random questions a sufficient justification for smudging a classic?

Kudelka makes the National Ballet of Canada look like a provincial troupe by insisting on ungainly swans, mannered acting and unclear goals.

National Ballet of Canada's "Swan Lake" with Greta Hodgkinson and Aleksandar Antonijevic by Cylla von Tiedemann.

Volume 4, No. 3
January 23, 2006

copyright ©2006 George Jackson
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last updated on January 23, 2006