Swan Lake with Osipova and Acosta, Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, October 2012

For those lucky enough to have tickets for last night’s Swan Lake, Odette/Odile was danced by Russian ballerina Natalia Osipova partnered by the Royal Ballet’s Carlos Acosta as Prince Siegfried. They were terrific together.

Natalia Osipova and Carlos Acosta, all images ROH/ Alice Pennefather

Osipova was in the news recently when she and Ivan Vasiliev quit the Moscow’s Bolshoi and joined the Mikhailovsky Ballet in St. Petersburg, one reason being frustration with the Bolshoi’s casting policy. This enabled her to replace Tamara Rojo in this performance, Rojo having recently left to become artistic director of the ENB. Despite having barely danced the role before, Osipova gave a wonderful characterisation of Odette/Odile: a suitably frail Swan Queen with beautifully fluid movements in Act II, a seductive Odile in Act III, and finally showing great emotional and spiritual strength as she faces Von Rothbart’s entrapment in Act III. There was excellent chemistry between her and Acosta, and his dancing showed huge strength, precision and emotional commitment to the role. He performed magnificently in his solos, and his deft partnering allowed her full rein.

Among the rest of the cast, Gary Avis was a dramatically perfect Von Rothbart, and though the swans danced well, the female corps in Act I seemed a bit ragged. In the pas-de-trois from that act, Itziar Mendizabal and Hikaru Kobayahshi were excellent as the two girls, and Act III showed some fine character dances. The Spanish dance and the Mazurka were excitingly performed, Ricardo Cervera was outstanding in the Czárdás, performing with enormous attack, and Yuhui Choe and Paul Kay were sheer delight in the Neapolitan dance.

This production has seen several small improvements over recent years but I still find the supers a clumsy irritation at the start of Act III, and the dappled lighting in Act IV can look a bit odd when there are only four swans on stage with one in darkness. Overall however the Company did a great job under fine musical direction from Boris Gruzin in the pit, who started slowly and built up well to the dramatic highlights.

Future performances of Osipova with Acosta on October 13 and 25 are a sell-out, but the present run of Swan Lake continues until November 24 — for details click here.

Swan Lake, English National Ballet, ENB, London Coliseum, August 2012

The English National Ballet’s production of Swan Lake is hard to beat, and it was beautifully danced, so don’t miss it. Wonderful designs by Peter Farmer with clever lighting by Howard Harrison, give a misty otherworldiness to the background in Acts I and III. That other world is where Act II and IV take place, and the stage and lighting effects give all four acts a magical quality.

Von Rothbart, ENB image/ Annabel Moeller

On the first night of the present run, Vadim Muntagirov was unavailable as Prince Siegfried, and was replaced by Zdenek Konvalina, making a fine debut in the role. He danced with great clarity, and was brilliantly partnered by Erina Takahashi as Odette/Odile. She danced a graceful Odette with beautiful arm movements, and her more assertive Odile had enormous poise and almost unearthly control. It was a lovingly lucid performance. James Streeter was a mendaciously powerful Von Rothbart with terrific stage presence, and I loved the short prologue where we see him capturing the princess and turning her into a swan. The transformation was deftly accomplished — she disappears behind his wings and as he rushes across stage the swan queen appears.

Siegfried and Odette, image Arnaud Stephenson

The corps danced beautifully throughout, and in Act I the pas-de-douze was a delight and in the pas-de-quatre I particularly liked Adela Ramirez and Junor Souza. Lovely cygnets in Act II, the Spanish dance and Czardas in Act III were enormous fun, and in the Neapolitan dance Barry Drummond was a revelation, showing superb musicality. Jane Howarth made a charming queen, and Michael Coleman a wonderfully bumbling tutor.

Siegfried and Odile, image Arnaud Stephenson

Conducting by Gavin Sutherland breathed life and liveliness into Tchaikovsky’s wonderful music, though some tempi seemed unduly slow. Altogether this is a super production and was given a terrific performance by the company, so come to London and get a ticket. Don’t be put off by the Olympic Games; the West End is nowhere near as crowded as was predicted, and this is a lovely treat for early August.

Performances continue until August 11 — for details click here.

Swan Lake, English National Ballet, ENB, London Coliseum, March 2011

With the recent success of the movie Black Swan, Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake is filling auditoriums, so tickets are getting scarce. In London at the moment both the Royal Ballet and English National Ballet have productions on stage, so there’s a choice. If you want to hear Tchaikovsky, then I’d go to the London Coliseum where Gavin Sutherland’s conducting drives the music forward in a dramatic way, and if you like designs and choreography, then I’d also go to the Coliseum to see the ENB’s production. Its choreography by Derek Deane, based on Ivanov and Petipa, works very well, as do the wonderful designs by Peter Farmer, most beautifully lit by Howard Harrison.

It’s remarkable how the sets and lighting create the sense of a mysterious outer world beyond the peasant domain in Act I, and the courtly world of Act III. In Acts II and IV we are of course in that outer world, lit by a full moon, and this production even gives us a glimpse of it during the overture by showing the evil Von Rothbart capturing a princess and turning her into a swan trapped by his spell.

all photos by Daria Klimentova

As for the dancing and movement on stage, the peasant pas-de-douze in Act I was charmingly performed, creating a sense of space and movement, and the pas-de-quatre, with Begoña Cao, James Forbat, Laurretta Summerscales and Max Westwell was terrific. The conducting gave a tremendous sense of rhythm and forward movement when Jane Haworth entered as Prince Siegfried’s mother, elegant and with a hugely engaging stage presence. The music fits Derek Deane’s choreography perfectly, and the lighting is magical for Arionel Vargas’s solo ‘soliloquy’ as the Prince, with a spot on him as the rest of the stage shades into irreality.

The four cygnets

In Act II, Fabian Reimair’s Von Rothbart moved dramatically, with great presence, and Elena Glurdjidze was a marvellous Swan Queen. Her pas-de-deux with Arionel Vargas, just before the cygnets enter, was beautifully done and she ended it with a palpable sense of regret that she is still trapped by Von Rothbart. His dramatic reappearance in Act III with his two scabrous, bald-headed followers, provided a much needed antidote to the tension between the Prince and his mother, which was very well portrayed.

Elena Glurdjidze as the black swan

When Elena Glurdjidze reappears as the black swan, Von Rothbart exudes elegance and seriousness, before taking a more active — perhaps too active — part in the amorous attraction of the prince towards his scheming daughter. The pas-de-deux between Prince and Black Swan had tremendous rhythmic energy, brilliantly supported by the orchestra under Gavin Sutherland. There was only a slight disconnect between dancer and conductor here, but the forceful playing of the orchestra is the way it should be done, and in Act IV as the Prince enters, the drums beat for all they are worth.

This was a hugely enjoyable performance, and finding tickets is well worth whatever effort it takes. Performances at the Coliseum continue only until March 26 — for more details click here.

Swan Lake, with Rojo and Acosta, Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, March 2011

Tamara Rojo is the quintessential Odette/Odile, showing a wonderful purity of movement as Odette, the Swan Queen in Acts II and IV, and a sinister, calculating quality as Odile, the daughter of the evil Von Rothbart in Act III. She dons the magical aura that allows her to take on the form of Odette, causing the prince to lose his heart to her, and then suddenly laughs in his face as soon as they have plighted their troth together. As he sees a vision of the real Odette in a mirror at the rear of the stage, her nasty laugh has a wonderfully sinister quality.

Acosta and Rojo in Act IV, photo by Johan Persson

Carlos Acosta as the prince was wonderful. He showed suitable ennui in Act I, and again in Act III with the six princesses, yet a readiness to hunt at night under a full moon in Act II. His anguish was palpable in Act IV, as he searches for his swan queen, and his emotion and his dive into the lake after her at the end was very well represented. And with Tamara Rojo his deft partnering allowed her to shine, which she most certainly did, holding an arabesque en pointe in Act III without the slightest fear on either part that she might not hold the balance.

The corps de ballet, photo by Dee Conway

I’ve commented earlier this month on the production, so I’ll leave that aside, except to say that I loved the set and the lighting in Act II. As to performance, the corps danced beautifully in the big ensemble pieces, and the pas-de-trois in Act I was very well performed by Akane Takada, Deirdre Chapman and Valentino Zucchetti. He was particularly good in his jumps and the conductor, Boris Gruzin took the music at just the right pace for his solos. What a shame he couldn’t do the same for the girls. The first two female solos in the pas-de-trois were markedly too slow, as was Rojo’s big Act II solo in Act II. These are ballerinas, not men, and they need the music at a pace that allows them to shine.

The character dances in Act III were all beautifully performed, and Yuhui Choe and Liam Scarlett were a delight in the Neapolitan dance. It was a treat to have Gary Avis as Von Rothbart, both in the white acts and particularly in Act III where he exuded a charmingly dark menace, well-supported by his dwarves. The interaction with his sinister daughter Odile showed skilful sorcery, and this was altogether a Swan Lake to treasure.

Before the performance started, Monica Mason, the Company’s artistic director, came on stage. It’s always an ominous moment when one wonders whether such an appearance is to announce injuries and replacements, but this was simply to tell us that the Royal Ballet had made their first visit to Japan in 1975, and they were dedicating this performance to the victims of the appalling recent earthquake in Japan. In fact they are putting on a special performance this Sunday, March 20 at 4 p.m. in the Linbury Theatre — details below.

As for the present run of Swan Lake, performances continue until April 8 — for more details, click here.

Concert performance in aid of the Japan Tsunami Appeal, with former Principal Guest Artist of The Royal Ballet Miyako Yoshida and friends, including: Yuhui Choe, Valeri Hristov, Hikaru Kobayashi, Ryoichi Hirano, Kenta Kura*, Akane Takada*, and students from the Royal Academy of Music (*tbc).

Tickets: 20 pounds. Running time: about one hour.

HOW TO BOOK: Advance tickets available from the Royal Opera House Box Office in person and by telephone until 4pm tomorrow (Saturday 19 March). Day tickets available at the door (cash only, donations welcomed!). Box Office telephone number: 020 7304 4000

Swan Lake, American Ballet Theater, March 2009

There were lots of things to praise in this performance of Swan lake, but others to criticise. First the good things: Irina Dvorovenko was a lovely Odette-Odile, alternating well between a sublime white swan, and her seductive black counterpart in Act III. The corps de ballet were superb, particularly in the white acts, forming a very powerful presence at the end when they defeat von Rothbart. Indeed this performance warmed up as the evening progressed, and really took off with the black swan’s first solo. Her partner, Maxim Beloserkovsky as Prince Siegfried, danced with technical mastery and good control, but little musicality, which made him far less interesting than her.

As to the rest of the cast, the pas-de-trois in Act I was very well danced by Sarah Lane, Isabella Boyston and Daniil Simkin, while von Rothbart was strongly portrayed at the party scene by Gennadi Saveliev, and by Isaac Stappas in the white acts. The dual portrayal of von Rothbart was an interesting aspect of this production, and in a prologue during the overture they both appeared, along with Siegfried and Odette-Odile, dimly lit behind a front-drop. The lighting design by Duane Schuler was very effective here, but in the white scenes the company didn’t manage to install the lights correctly, for several swans, including one solo, were left in the dark. The sets and costumes by Zack Brown work extremely well, giving plenty of colour to Act III and plenty of space for dancing. I only object to the change of costume for Siegfried in Act III where he suddenly reappears in a black doublet, with the black swan, from off-stage. We have not seen her before, though she should be introduced by von Rothbart when he enters the party, rather than appearing as if she has known Siegfried all along and been having an illicit affair off-stage.

But the most disappointing thing about this production is Kevin McKenzie’s choreography in Act I, which sometimes bears little relationship to the music. Insipid and unimaginative steps to quiet passages are simply continued without change as the music roars into top gear. The music itself was very well performed by the orchestra of the English National Opera under the baton of Charles Barker, who showed a fine sensitivity to the dancers.