It is very difficult to perform classical ballet repertoire extremely well. There are the technical demands, as well as a precise understanding of the style and nuance of these revered classics. Yet, season after season international ballet companies tackle these pyrotechnical warhorses to critical acclaim or to lukewarm results.
Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo has taken a somewhat different approach to Swan Lake, one of the most well known ballets from the Ivanov/Petipa repertoire. Though other companies have updated Swan Lake in the past—from National Ballet of Canada’s Freudian version to Matthew Bourne’s modern dance–based, homoerotic incarnation—Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo’s LAC after Swan Lake incorporates mixed media, movement from a variety of dance styles, as well as a modern sensibility evidenced in narrative, costume, and corps de ballet configuration.
Though the narrative in LAC defers somewhat from the original Swan Lake that is based on a German folktale, some story elements remain consistent. The Prince must marry an eligible young aristocrat, there are evil forces afoot, and the Swan fluctuates between human form and a hybrid of bird and humanoid. The resemblance to the original storyline ends there. Instead of the evil magician Rothbart, there is a maniacal malicious Majesty of the Night in league with the Prince’s King Father, the Prince has a mother and a father in this version, and the Prince is the protagonist of the ballet instead of the Swan.
“Of course as a dancer, and being fascinated with Tchaikovsky’s music, I had to face Swan Lake at some point. For me, it is about trying to see if it’s possible to bring some contemporary code into those traditional ballets,” details Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo artistic director Jean-Christophe Maillot in a phone interview with Playbill.
Enter novelist/scriptwriter/lyricist Jean Rouaud who Maillot met at the Monaco Dance Forum. “We discussed the mythology of those big classical ballets and tried to see if, by telling the story in a very precise way, we could bring something different to it that would be more connected to the reality of today, for the dancers,” explains Maillot.
he cast of Jean-Christophe Maillot’s LAC (After Swan Lake). Photo by Laurent Philippe
It appears that this revised, modern adaptation works choreographically for this company. Gone are the stylized swan arms and undulations—well, most of it—and the imperial approach to Tchaikovsky’s swelling score. Maillot’s naturalistic movement style, which includes Graham-like contractions, lyrical steps in the style of Lester Horton, combined with Maillot’s hybrid ballet vocabulary has created a lexicon of movement styles that gives LAC modern accessibility and buoyancy. The dancers soft, pliant pointe work was also a welcome relief from the staccato rat a tat tats of noisy pointe shoes.
Also, in Maillot’s LAC, the movement styles and stagecraft support the music in ways that don’t encroach on Tchaikovsky’s magnificent score. At times, it was like hearing Swan Lake for the first time without too many stage distractions.
Jean-Christophe Maillot’s LAC (After Swan Lake). Shown: Anjara Ballesteros as The White Swan, Lucien Postlewaite as The Prince. Photo by Alice Blangero.
One of the other elements that stood out most dramatically in LAC was Philippe Guillotel’s costumes. Guillotel’s costumes for this production were on trend, incorporating asymmetrical cuts, combinations of layered diaphanous fabrics, metallic fibers, and juxtaposing hard and soft fabrications. Though Guillotel’s creations were modern in scope and facilitated ease of movement for the dancers, there was a nod to some of the traditional ballet costumes seen in Swan Lake. The standouts among Guillotel’s costumes were the feathered, sequined gloves that conjured up images of flapping swan wings and the Majesty of the Night’s peplum/short tutu black sequined tunic.
The dancers in this company are all brilliant; however, there were some standouts. Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo principal dancer April Ball was equally menacing and deliciously sensual as the Majesty of the Night. Noelani Pantastico as the Black Swan/Odile had the right combination of muscular urgency and lyrical elegance. And Anjara Bellesteros as the White Swan/Odette is graceful classicism at its best.
Image courtesy of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo
Still, the corps de ballet in this work is worth taking note of. Though the swans were a little “Swan Lake on Quaaludes” at times, the beauty and uniformity of the corps was not the point of Maillot’s LAC. This production uses the incredible acting/dancing ability of Maillot’s artists in ways that more traditional versions of Swan Lake don’t.
Though LAC may cause Swan Lake purists to cringe at times, there is much good to be said about Maillot’s reworking of this great classic. And those feathered, sequined gloves would look great on a runway!!
—William S. Gooch
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