Swan Lake lecture - DANSOX lecture - Alastair Macaulay

[Sebastian]

 

The distinguished critic Alastair Macaulay recently gave an illustrated lecture to DANSOX at Oxford University: "On Meaning in 'Swan Lake'". Happily this was filmed and is now on YouTube. It is a most illuminating talk, going a long way to rescue Swan Lake from being, to quote Macaulay, "a stupid ballet for stupid people".

 

As the lecture was uploaded by DANSOX itself I hope it is legitimate to link to it here. Whatever one feels it will certainly provide food for thought for those enjoying the current Royal Ballet run:

 

 

 

https://youtu.be/4uoVO76hjZc

 

[FLOSS]

I was lucky enough to see Ratmansky's Swan Lake in Zurich and I have to say that for me it was infinitely preferable to the current Royal Ballet version of the ballet which seems to be informed more by the dance aesthetics of Soviet Swan Lakes than any of the company's earlier productions of the work. It was a strange experience to see in the Ratmansky what was for the main part very familiar choreography turned into something rich and strange merely through the use of period and stylistically appropriate technique which of course brought out the extraordinary musicality of the original text even where gaps in the notation meant the text danced had to be supplemented by the choreography which the Sadler's Wells Ballet is known to have danced in the late forties and early fifties.

 

I thought that the best parts of the lecture were the filmed excerpts which Macauley used to illustrate the  points he wanted to make. I actually think that the event would have benefited from a lot less Alistair being Alistair and much more film. It seemed to me that through his choice of choreographic illustrations from the reconstruction and earlier Royal Ballet productions Macauley's lecture established just how musical the original choreographic text is. By making the viewer concentrate on the original dance text's  relationship with the score it emphasised just how insensitive and over elaborate Scarlett's version of the ballet actually is. This  may not have been what he intended but it is true wherever you look in the production.

 

The Scarlett production much like Soviet versions of the ballet ignores the carefully devised architecture of the original set out in the score in which the big choreographic set pieces are surrounded by simpler quieter contrasting passages of choreography  which provide a breathing space for the audience encouraging it to savour the more complex significant sections of the work. Unfortunately in Scarlett's version the set pieces are in competition with a lot of rather mindless uninspired new choreography for the corps which owes a great deal more to MacMillan than Petipa, Ivanov or Ashton. Among other things it gives us Benno transformed into a close relative of the Soviet jester whose precise position at the court is difficult to judge because he seems to be more of an entertainer than an unobtrusive friend and assistant and two unnecessary princesses who behave more like entertainers than royalty. Their involvement in the floor show in act three seems completely out of place. It jars as does the lack of understanding or feeling for court etiquette which leaves the foreign princesses lined up in the ballroom as if they were trying to enter an exclusive do at a nightclub. I don't think that setting the ballet in a twenty first century vision of the Victorian era helps either. The idea behind the original designs gave the audience a late nineteenth century vision of the medieval world with which they were already familiar as a time and place in which magic was a potent force. A time and place not that different from the world in which the symbolist play Pelleas and Melisande is set. The world of medieval ballet land presents few problems or distractions for the stager or the audience since no hint of realism will ever intrude upon the action of a ballet set there. Unfortunately the designs for the current staging, particularly those for for the non dancing courtiers, are so obviously inspired by Georgiadis and contemporary images of late nineteenth century court personnel that it seems to me that there is always a danger that MacMillan style realism will intrude and break through the enchantment which holds Odette, her companions and the audience captive.

 

[Shade]

Thanks Floss I would very much like to see the Ratmansky swan lake and sleeping beauty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lindsay]

The Petipa Society has some very interesting video extracts on their site of the La Scala performance of the Ratmansky version on their site:

 

https://petipasociety.com/swan-lake-ratmansky-reconstruction/

 

And I agree Floss.  I wish there were more 'palatable' speakers and writers than Macaulay producing longer/more reflective materials on ballet.  He is so fond of stating his own broad opinion as if it represents an undeniable truth that I find him unreadable/watchable these days.  A controversialist for the sake of it and not nearly as well-informed as he would like one to think. If anyone has suggestions for other essayists/lecturers I would be grateful - I always find Doug Fullington very interesting but haven't really come across many other writers on ballet (as opposed to modern dance)

[Fonty]

I loved  watching the performances by Makarova and Fonteyn, but  I am not sure that watching those clips was such a good idea before setting off for the Opera House.

[stucha]

On 17/03/2022 at 03:30, Lindsay said:

The Petipa Society has some very interesting video extracts on their site of the La Scala performance of the Ratmansky version on their site:

 

https://petipasociety.com/swan-lake-ratmansky-reconstruction/

 

And I agree Floss.  I wish there were more 'palatable' speakers and writers than Macaulay producing longer/more reflective materials on ballet.  He is so fond of stating his own broad opinion as if it represents an undeniable truth that I find him unreadable/watchable these days.  A controversialist for the sake of it and not nearly as well-informed as he would like one to think. If anyone has suggestions for other essayists/lecturers I would be grateful - I always find Doug Fullington very interesting but haven't really come across many other writers on ballet (as opposed to modern dance)

 

Thanks for posting this link.

 

I saw the La Scala production when it toured to Paris in 2016 with the same cast as in the video above. Good to see it again and pick up the details and differences from other productions. The Act 1 waltz is just wonderful.

Edited March 18, 2022 by stucha