alison Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Somewhere in the middle of the "new Royal Ballet Swan Lake" thread (http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/8921-a-new-royal-ballet-swan-lake/page-3#entry119383) we started getting a bit worked up and picking our least-favourite bits of Swan Lake. Now this is your chance to make up your own DIY nightmare Swan Lake by cobbling together as many disparate chunks of the ballet as you like, preferably from current or previous productions, to make the most dreadful production possible, rather like that "Misfits" game where you have various heads, bodies, legs and feet printed on strips of card and have to put them together to make particularly ridiculous-looking characters. I shall think about mine while I'm off doing the washing-up, but in the meantime, over to you ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 (edited) One thing I really loathe in these dramatic ballets is the Russian habit of stopping after every part of all the major pas de deux to bow and curtsey and milk applause from the audience. It wrecks the atmosphere, which is more important in Swan Lake than just about any other ballet (except maybe Giselle). For best effect, a ballet like Swan Lake should be treated like a play and the participants should interact with each other, not the audience. So I guess my nightmare Swan Lake would have the pas de deux turn into a parade of bowing and curtseying and basically treating the ballet like a bunch of virtuoso variations at a festival, or a star turn on Britain's Got Talent. Also, another thing that bugs me about some performances is when Odette and Odile are so different that you end up thinking the Prince must be blind and stupid to believe they're the same person. I know critics seem to love it when the ballerina plays Odile as though she was dancing in a completely different ballet, but I'd just as soon not be spending most of Act 3 thinking "erm, Siegfried, really? are you that much of a blithering idiot?" Edited February 22, 2015 by Melody 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barnes2 Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 My nightmare isto see those ghastly Cygnets doing an encore. Please can all four of them be shot !? Please!!! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 I loathe jesters and I can't stand the happy ending productions. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trog Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 There are two Swan Lakes which stick in my mind as being terrible. The first was by the Royal Ballet with the extra set of swans, comprised of students from White Lodge. They mirrored the line of the normal swans, but really added nothing to the production, apart from cluttering up the stage. The other is by the Royal Ballet of Flanders, with the dwarf the kill the swans, who jump up dance continue dancing. This also features the live owl, the parrots on the shoulders of the men and them wringing out their hankies to create the lake. All 2 1/2 hours of it without an interval. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willie Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 those ghastly Cygnets doing an encore. ... wearing those huge nun hats from Graeme Murphy's Swan Lake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneMarriott Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 My nightmare isto see those ghastly Cygnets doing an encore. Please can all four of them be shot !? Please!!! At last someone who shares my view! I've always hated them - cute as they are they completely break the mood after that wonderful elegiac pas de deux. Shooting is a bit drastic though; couldn't we just clip their wings? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 The naked female Rothbart in Mr Ek's version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane S Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 The low spot for me in the current RB Swan Lake was the Tutor in Act 1 throwing up into the fountain at the back of the stage. But many who saw Peter Schaufuss's 'Swan Lake - the Nightmare' may feel this whole thread is redundant... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobR Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Notwithstanding Trog's view I've always thought that the Corps, including the White Lodge swans, were the one of the highlights of Swan Lake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Wall Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 But many who saw Peter Schaufuss's 'Swan Lake - the Nightmare' may feel this whole thread is redundant... .... and Schaufuss' Sleeping Beauty (which was enough to make Lendorf blush and oh, so cruel to Mukhamedov) ... and his Nutcracker in that late pick-up contemporary company 'nightmare' shown at the Coliseum a few years ago. One clings to the remembrances of him as a wonderful dancer and of the quality of his overall regime when running LFB/ENB. Mukhamedov's SL which I saw in Warsaw I thought one of the best (i.e., most imaginative) in fulfilling the narrative requirements) .... but I realise that such a comment is in opposition to the theme of this thread. Thus, I will depart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Notwithstanding Trog's view I've always thought that the Corps, including the White Lodge swans, were the one of the highlights of Swan Lake Hello RobR and welcome out of the lurking shadows. Now that you've broken the ice I do hope you will continue to join in! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 The low spot for me in the current RB Swan Lake was the Tutor in Act 1 throwing up into the fountain at the back of the stage. Not to mention the cadet who sometimes does it rather more prominently. Hmm, I'm definitely feeling a nightmare Swan Lake starting to take shape here ... It probably needs to involve the Swamp Thing as well for good measure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Somebody sent me this link, which I had not seen before. While the perfomance is jaw droppingly amazing, I don't think I want to see anything like this incorporated into the RB's Swan Lake. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152511134641512 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm365 Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 I saw the full performance of this when it was done in London some years ago. I don't honestly think it fair to include it in a section on nightmare Swan Lakes! Of courwe it shouldn't be remotely compared with a 'real' Swan Lake, but it was a wonderful spectacle in its own right. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Actually, by the end of the present run, I think I shall be feeling that the RB's current Swan Lake is my nightmare version. I shall certainly be pleased to wave it goodbye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 (edited) I thought it was amazing too, but it didn't really have very much to do with Swan Lake (at least in the clip I saw). It was a series of moves displaying the incredible balances and stunning flexibility of the main dancer, set to the music of Tchaikovsky. Which is remarkably similar to a lot of new choreography I have seen at Covent Garden over the last few years! Edited March 10, 2015 by Fonty 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Which is remarkably similar to a lot of new choreography I have seen at Covent Garden over the last few years! Nice one Fonty! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 The Chinese Acrobatic Swan Lake is huge fun but you have to take it for what it is! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 I saw the full performance of this when it was done in London some years ago. I don't honestly think it fair to include it in a section on nightmare Swan Lakes! I think I did, didn't I? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Would love to see Chinese Acrobatic Swan Lake again wonder if they are still going? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted May 20, 2018 Author Share Posted May 20, 2018 Just found this while hunting for another Swan Lake thread, and thought it might be fun to bump it :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pianolady Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 (edited) Happy endings, jesters, bizarre musical changes (am thinking of Vienna Festival Ballet's Sleeping Beauty which moved the overture to the end of the Prologue and did a strange sort of medly at the beginning- with the house lights still up, sending a hugely confusing message to the overly chatty and restless members of the audience). Also some touring companies tackling elements of the choreography that is beyond them. I think these companies pay a very important role, and what is frustrating is when they are making wholesale changes anyway. Plus Rothbart nightmare costumes looking like Darth Vader on an off-day hanging around. Edited May 20, 2018 by pianolady Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penelopesimpson Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 On 22/02/2015 at 15:39, Barnes2 said: My nightmare isto see those ghastly Cygnets doing an encore. Please can all four of them be shot !? Please!!! Shot, stuffed and roasted 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 Sacrilege to say so around here I know, but I really like the cygnets. I don't find their appearance as jarring of the mood as all that, as there's usually been a substantial break for applause after the pdd anyway. Am I mistaken, or has the head bobbing been toned down in this production? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridiem Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 54 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said: Sacrilege to say so around here I know, but I really like the cygnets. I don't find their appearance as jarring of the mood as all that, as there's usually been a substantial break for applause after the pdd anyway. Am I mistaken, or has the head bobbing been toned down in this production? One of the reviews mentioned (favourably) that it had been cut. (I wondered if I'd blinked and missed it.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 definitely jesters oh - and ripping von Rothbart's wing off, and beating him to death with the wet end 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 I hardly dare say this but the new production has resuscitated a few of my niggles: lighting too dark to see Siegfried properly scenery taking up too much of the stage (Act 1) stage effects which detract from the dancing (I love the fact that Act 1 'transforms' into Act 2 but some people are missing Siegfried's soliloquy because of that) 'minor' characters who never go away, rather like an insect buzzing round one's head on a summer picnic (Russian Jesters the main culprit here but Scarlett has given us too much Benno for my liking) an overly slow tempo for the Act 2 pas de deux over long corps work at the start of Act 4 (exhausting for the dancers too) any repetition of the 4 little swans (Scarlett refers back to them in Act 4 and, for me, breaks the mood of the flock sorrowing for Odette) unclear ending (or aspects of it obscured from many in the audience) But, in many other respects, Scarlett has delivered a dream rather than a nightmare. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard LH Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 On 22/02/2015 at 09:50, Melody said: One thing I really loathe in these dramatic ballets is the Russian habit of stopping after every part of all the major pas de deux to bow and curtsey and milk applause from the audience. It wrecks the atmosphere, which is more important in Swan Lake than just about any other ballet (except maybe Giselle). I agree this can be annoying if it completely upsets the dramatic flow, or if it seems the pause is created by the artists simply in order to solicit applause. But there are occasions where it quite fits in dramatically -- for example when a dance is being performed for an on-stage audience of nobles, peasants or whatever (not an uncommon occurence!), then the applause which that on-stage audience would provide in the real world (but don't in the production) can be usefully replaced by the actual audience. I see no problem with that. Also, occasionally audience applause after a wonderful pdd or solo can be so heartfelt and prolonged that we can forgive the artists if they briefly acknowledge it back (even at otherwise inappropriate moments - but as an exception, not as a rule). It has seemed just about OK on a couple of occasions during the current Swan Lake run. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard LH Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 On 22/02/2015 at 16:05, Jan McNulty said: I loathe jesters and I can't stand the happy ending productions. You should be OK on both fronts with the current RB production, Jan, if you are able to see it (which I hope). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRR Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 My nightmare Swan Lake is anything with Yolanda Sonnabend's designs. Even as a 7-year-old I couldn't stand them! I loathe Black Swan pas de deuxs which go back to the original music also used for Balanchine's "Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux." Gorgeous music to be sure, but the original Tchaikovsky completely dials down the eroticism inherent in the pas de deux. Some versions such as Bolshoi and La Scala use the oboe solo in minor for Odile's variation, which I do find very effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 1 hour ago, Richard LH said: You should be OK on both fronts with the current RB production, Jan, if you are able to see it (which I hope). I'm hoping to go to the live screening. A friend unexpectedly attended the first night; she was underwhelmed - her reason being that there were too many swans!!! (Although of course the clue is in the title!!!) 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 37 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said: I'm hoping to go to the live screening. A friend unexpectedly attended the first night; she was underwhelmed - her reason being that there were too many swans!!! (Although of course the clue is in the title!!!) A bit like my old boss who complained that a lemon cake was "a bit lemony". 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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