Some rather harsh comments here on Natalia Osipova. I don't think we should forget that, for all her prodigious talent, this is a ballerina who has danced the role of Odette/Odile only a handful of times, and will no doubt still be finding her way in the role. Last night, she was not an especially regal Odette, and the tempi in Act 2, (particularly for her solo) didn’t help the portrayal, but in Act 3 she generated a level of excitement which I felt lifted the production to another level. True, she spun so fast she lost control at the end of the fouettes, but at least she went for it. I’d much rather performers did that than played it safe. But I can see why she’s been called the “Marmite” ballerina.
The energy Osipova was generating clearly affected some of the other performers: notably Paul Kay - with Yuhui Choe, the best Neapolitan Dance I’ve seem live. The two leading swans, Helen Crawford and Claire Calvert synchronised perfectly.
Carols Acosta danced impeccably as the Prince (and acted really well) and Gary Avis was the most menacing of Rothbarts, but neither character is given enough to do in this version.
As for the production itself – I wouldn’t have gone to see the Royal Ballet Swan Lake again but for the chance to see Osipova and Acosta together in it. The gaudy designs were conceived in the 1980s “Loads-a-Money” era, and now look tasteless.
I realise the Petipa/Ivanov/Drigo revival was staged in 1895, but I don’t understand the logic of setting the ballet in the Russia of that era. Alexander III (who had just died) may have been a lover of the ballet and collected Faberge (the “inspiration” for much of the setting), but he was pretty fond of executing radicals and persecuting minorities, too. It seems bizarre to turn Act I into some sort of homage to Tsarist autocracy (and filling it with stereotypes from the length and breadth of the Russian Empire), when it should be the prelude to a medieval tale of magic and mystery. Perhaps we need an austerity Swan Lake as an antidote.
Aileen mentions the “saccharine dance for the corps” and the “prim” duet for Odette and the Prince in Act 4. I tend to agree with both descriptions, although I rather like the mini solos for the two leading swans that are woven into the Valse Bluette. Of course, if you are going to reproduce the “authentic” choreographic text from the 1895 production (which was Anthony Dowell’s aim) then there is no way of avoiding these interpolations – neither of them from the original score, but Drigo’s orchestrations of two of Tchaikovsky piano pieces. The Mariinsky production uses the same music and pretty much, I think, the same choreography. I prefer the “old” RB Act 4, with the Ashton pas de deux using music from the Act 3 Pas de Six – is that still used by ENB?
James