ENB's My First Ballet: Swan Lake

[Sim]

On April 3^rd I took myself and my little 6 year-old friend Athena to see English National Ballet’s My First Ballet:  Swan Lake at the Peacock Theatre here in London. 

The “My First” series started in 2012 and is aimed at young children in order to get them interested in ballet, and to give them an understanding of what is going on in the piece on offer, both narratively and technically.  To this end, there is a narrator present throughout the performance.  She introduces the ballet, then participates at various points to keep things flowing.  She also explains the mime, which is very important because in the ‘adult’ version of the ballet the mime is incredibly important, and enhances the ballet if you understand it. 

The dancers are all students from the ENB School, mostly second years.  Lou Cope, the dramaturg, has quite radically changed the story, but it makes sense for children.  In this version, Odile is the magician von Rothbart’s sister, and Odette’s best friend. Von Rothbart declares his love for Odette, but she refuses his advances and in a rage he turns her into a swan.  The bit about changing back to a maiden when true love is sworn still happens, but the deceit here is perpetrated by an unwitting Odile.  Rothbart simply takes her along to Siegfried’s party and he falls for her.  When Odile sees poor Odette in the background begging Siegfried not to fall for the trick, although she fancies Siegfried her friendship with Odette is the most important thing.  All is revealed and all’s well that ends well…. Von Rothbart is even forgiven and sees that his evil ways don’t make him happy.  So there are some important messages here about friendship and loyalty, and how being nice makes you happy.  You can’t remind children enough of these matters, especially in today’s world.

The dancing itself is of high quality.  Chloe Keneally as Odette has lovely arms and feet, and expresses the dilemma she is in very effectively.  Beatriz Kuperus as Odile has a bit of a hard job because we are all expecting an evil minx, but she is actually a good girl with a kind heart and wins us over with her dancing and her pleasant demeanour.  We are discussing fouettees on another thread, and here Kuperus comes out and does singles;  very difficult and very well done.  Luigi Cifone as von Rothbart, not quite as menacing as in the ‘adult’ ballet, has crisp technique and was having a lot of fun with the role.  I could see that he would have been much more dark if he had been allowed to, but I am sure that they didn’t want to frighten the little ones!  Siegfried was danced by Harvey Littlefield.   He has commanding stage presence and lovely long legs which give him a beautiful, expressive line.  He partnered well; combine that with his winning smile and dramatic ability, and this young man is one to watch and could go far.  He definitely has ‘danseur noble’ potential.  There was a corps of eight swans and they moved beautifully together.  The national dances were fun and well danced.  All of the dancers in this production were impressive, especially because the stage at the Peacock is small so they had to restrict their movement;  I was under the impression that if they’d had more room to let rip and be expansive they would have been even better.  I look forward to seeing them all dance in future.

With lovely, traditional sets and costumes by Peter Farmer, and the music (pre-recorded) sensitively re-arranged by the ever-wonderful Gavin Sutherland, this performance makes sense for children, and is kept short (two acts of about 30 minutes each) to avoid boredom.  However, boredom was not a problem here.  The packed theatre was quiet and attentive the whole time, with very appreciative applause in all the right places.  When I asked my little companion her opinion, this is what she said:

I liked when the swans danced.

I liked all the dancing.

I liked the music.

I liked the set.

I liked everything.

I couldn’t have put it better myself!  This production is touring for the next few weeks (to Bromley, Oxford, Manchester, Blackpool, Woking and Torquay) and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to introduce a little person (or maybe not so little!) to classical ballet. 

[alison]

Thanks, Sim.  I must admit, I hadn't expected them to change the story quite so radically!  Go for the "happy" ending, yes, but I think it's pretty safe to say they won't see another production of Swan Lake anything like that!

[Lisa O`Brien]

Sounds lovely. I wonder how many little ones come out and want to become dancers when they grow up after seeing it? Perhaps there should have been flyers around the foyers advertising the Balletco Forum for any future stressed and bewildered mums and dads out there !!

[RuthE]

Thanks for posting this, Sim.  I've been suggesting it to my sister as a possibility (now or in the next couple of years) for her 3-year-old son who enjoys going to the theatre, especially as Woking would be a convenient touring venue for them to reach.

 

That said, I have surprisingly clear memories of being that age, and had somebody shown me a performance at that age of a piece that was drastically different from the "real" version, I can imagine I'd have got pretty confused growing up when I then found out what the story actually should be!

[Sim]

Well hopefully by the time he sees the real thing he will have forgotten the minutiae of the version he saw!!  Definitely worth taking him to.  If he goes, do let me know if he likes it!