After my meeting with Lez Brotherston I hurried to the theatre next door to join family and friends eagerly awaiting the performance to begin. The lights went down and the familiar sound of Tchaikovsky's music enveloped the auditorium, whispering into the ears of the audience as the atmosphere built. The curtains opened to reveal the prince's bedroom, the performance is captivating us from the beginning and throughout, using comedy, costumes, and of course the beautiful dancing to hold our attention. Matthew's dancers all have extensive characterisation skills to compliment their dancing. This enables them to connect to the audience on a much higher emotional level, it isn't uncommon to have a lump in your throat during a Bourne production.
Bourne's version of the classic swan lake is probably most famous for his exchange of the female corps de ballet, with an all male cast of swans. When I was young I couldn't understand why anyone would want to change anything about the ballet, but since growing up around dance and working with innovative choreographers, gaining a wider understanding of dance, narratives and life, I couldn't see the ballet any other way.
Matthew once said "The idea of a male swan makes complete sense to me, the strength, the beauty, the enormous wingspan of these creatures suggests to me the musculature of a male dancer more readily than a ballerina in her white tutu."
I think the choreography enables the story to work with all male swans, expressing love and seduction in a way that is understandable, and leads the audience to feel empathy for the characters and their struggle to be together. Although I have seen the performance many times, my favourite scene remains to be the cygnets, each time the choreography is slightly different, but always intriguing and quite comical. I like that Matthew has chosen to incorporate this traditional section of the ballet, using his own twist and array of funny walks, bum wiggles and swan characteristics opposed to the endless pas de chats of the original. Overall the ballet is utterly breath taking, mixing just the right amount of comedy with seriousness, you find yourself believing the dancers and seeing them as beautiful swans instead of performers. I would recommend a Matthew Bourne production to anyone, even those who wouldn't usually see a dance show, for everything including the amazing sets and costumes, paired with the wonderful music, however this particular show will always be a favourite of mine, and many others who have seen it.
