BWW Dance Review: American Ballet Theatre's SWAN LAKE, June 21, 2018.

Just before the music begins for the famous Act Two Swan Lake pas de deux, I always take a deep breath. Excitement?

No-fear!!!! Because I know that in this ABT production the music taken is so slow, so tensionless, so stretched, that it loses momentum. It's like an ordeal. Why should Odette and Siegfried fall in love with each other over this music? They could probably go for dinner in the time it takes for the music to finish. I suppose I'm in the minority, but I'm here to watch a development in love, not a descent into inertia. There's no one out there in ABT-anyone?-who can make a suggestion on how to correct this? I know the ballerina wants to show her extensions, but once it's done, why keep repeating?

It's at times such as this that I wish Bob Fosse were still with us. He wasn't a ballet person, but he understood tempos and what they could produce in a theatrical production. Even Wayne McGregor, I'm sure, could offer suggestions for speediness.

So what does this new Swan Lake offer us? Devon Teuscher! She has danced the role before, but I never saw her. And she did not disappoint. Tall, musical, elegantly proportioned, she delivered what I'd call an excellent performance. She was warm and caressing as Odette, calculating and whipping off those fouettés as Odille. And she was matched by the handsome Corey Stearns as Prince Siegfried, a very conscientious and attentive partner. For some really extra snarkiness, there was a show-stopping solo by Thomas Forster as everyone's favorite dark, evil, ballet creep, von Rothbart. The problem was that no-one clapped very much when he took his bow.

So what's the pickle?

We'll forget the tempos for now. (Actually, the tempos for the Black Swan Pas de Deux were fine.) It's the production itself. It should have everything: Choreography by Kevin McKenzie after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov; music by...you know who; sets and costumes by Zack Brown; lighting by Duane Schuler and excellent orchestra conducting by Ormsby Wilkins.

But there is a hole somewhere. There is no dramatic tension, dancers come and go, there seems to be no connection between anyone. With the exception of the lake act, there does not seem to be much excitement. It's business as usual. Even the Black Swan Pas de Deux, for all its excitement, is just a lull. The more I see of Swan Lake, and I've seen it plenty of times I can assure you, the more I can understand why Balanchine only saw this act as revivable or dance-worthy. It says everything about the ballet. All the rest, in the immortal words of Oscar Hammerstein, "is talk."

Filler, precisely.

I know that people will disagree with me. I appreciate that. I wish I were more appreciative of the ballet. It can't hold up to the music of either The Nutcracker or Sleeping Beauty, and it always seems to be something of a choreographic dilemma. Yes, I know Matthew Bourne's take on it. But how long has that lasted?

Until next time.

To post a comment, you must register and login.