THEATRE TALK: Dancing Through Life

A well-spent youth

My lovely parents did me a great service during my childhood - they cultured me. My earliest memory is watching Sleeping Beauty from the gods, while regular Christmas trips to the Nutcracker, to Gilbert & Sullivan operettas and orchestral concerts left me with a wide cultural palate. My very favourite memory, however, is of Derek Deane's Swan Lake, staged in the round at the Royal Albert Hall. I don't think I was simply impressed because of my age - it really was the most incredible production, complete with a massive corps de ballet, a relentless light show, much dry ice, stunningly precise dancing and the most brilliantly scary Rothbart I have ever seen.

Last year I saw Swan Lake staged at the Royal Opera House, where Rothbart was dressed as an owl (possibly the least frightening thing I have ever seen) and dancers who took an extended bow after every solo, breaking up the story. I found myself strangely - and sadly - unmoved, despite Tchaikovsky's beautiful and emotive music. I was therefore extremely excited to discover that Deane's Swan Lake is to return to the Royal Albert Hall this June - in fact, I think I might have audibly yelped in joy.

If there was ever a production I would recommend going to see, this is the one. It's gorgeous, immense, terrifying and thrilling, and while ballet snobs will pooh-pooh the expansion of the corps and what they call 'pandering to the masses' with its technical aspects, I can put my hand on my heart and say that you will never forget this version. The swell of the music as it reaches its climax, the way the corps shift and surround the principals and the vision of Rothbart swooping through the fog are moments I will never forget.

A twist in the tale

However, if you are impatient and cannot wait for the summer to arrive - and indeed, the weather at the moment might make you feel it's a very long way away - a great substitution would be Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, currently back at Sadler's Wells and running until the 24th January. I'm off to see this on Sunday and, as above, am ridiculously excited. I've wanted to see this particular production for years - possibly originally inspired by Adam Cooper's cameo in Billy Elliot - and have finally stumped up the pennies as a kickstart to this year's theatregoing.

Its USP is its all-male corps de ballet, who cast a much stronger shadow than the typical tutu-clad team and who are pictured below, but it has received raves for Richard Winsor's 'sensuous' and 'mysterious' performance as the Swan/Stranger and for Nina Goldman as the Queen. Although this is not a strictly traditional telling of the tale, it seems to strike a nerve with the general public and, like Deane's Swan Lake, has returned and toured many times since its original premiere in 1995.

They can dance...

Or, of course, if finances are very very tight, you could stay in and enjoy the plethora of dance-related programmes that are set to fill our screens over the next few months. There's So You Think You Can Dance, full of solo musical theatre lovelies, skilled street dancers and ballet boys, hosted by the one and only Nigel Lythgoe. Or, if your tastes lie in celebrity shows, Dancing On Ice showcases a very difficult and impressive skill (and Jeremy Sheffield in Lycra, ahem), though I'm not sure watching Heather Mills for however many weeks is my idea of a fun time! Finally, Sky's Got To Dance, presented by Davina McCall, is more of an X Factor proposition, with solo acts, groups and duos all allowed a shot at the big time.

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake corps de ballet

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