Saimi Sattar discovers the reason why even 140 years after it was first performed, the Swan lake continues to endure itself to the audience
A classic tale of the triumph of good over evil. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s score which is haunting and foot-tapping in equal measure. The most staged ballet ever. And to top it all, it was being staged for the first time in India. The reasons were enough to queue up for the Swan lake — and I was not disappointed.
Performed by the Royal Russian Ballet theatre from Ukraine in collaboration with the Gurgaon-based Navrasa Duende, it was divided into four acts. The Swan lake’s story originates from Russian folk tales and is about Princess Odette, who has been cursed by an evil sorcerer, Baron Von Rothbart, to live as a swan by day and a woman at night. Prince Siegfried, while hunting, chances upon the lake with swans. About to be hunted, the swans turn into women, and Siegfried falls in love with Odette. She conveys to him that the spell can only be broken when a man who has never loved before professes eternal love for her. Odette promises to attend the ball at which Siegfried has to choose a wife. But the lovers are thwarted in the endeavour by Von Rothbart who uses magic to disguise his own daughter as Odette. At the ball, Siegfried professes his love for the imposter, thus shattering all hopes of the real Odette being freed from the curse. Siegfried looks for her and begs her forgiveness. He finds her distraught among her swan companions. In the original, the evil wizard raises a storm against the lovers and she dies of sorrow in his arms. The water from the lake then rises in a giant flood, which consumes them both. However, here it is the wizard who dies, while the lovers live happily ever after.
Act 1 of the ballet directed by Anatoliy Kazatskiy saw Prince Siegfried, played by principal male dancer Jan Vána unable to choose a bride. In this Act, popularly referred to as the ballroom scene, it was the court jester portrayed by Gavryshkiv Andrii who had all eyes rivetted, with his leaps and swirls that conveyed without a doubt what he was on the stage for — to entertain.
In Act II, the strains of music immediately conveyed that the mood was set for romance. The agile swans dancing to the strains of the symphony were the closest that one could get to ephemeral beauty on stage. But the scene stealer was prima ballerina Matsak Natalia, who with her gait, performance and a quiet strength that was conveyed through every nerve of her being, proved why The Swan lake lead is looked up to. It was not her dress, embellished more than the other swans that made her stand out. Rather it was her poise, grace and the finesse with which she executed her movements that talked to the audience: “look at me, I am the white swan.” But the full scope of her talent became even more pronounced in the act that followed, where she was phenomenal.
Dressed as Odille, the black swan, the imposter who takes Odette’s place at the ball, Natalia shone in Act III. While as Odette, the love, innocence and beauty was conveyed through her body language, as Odille she was transformed into the exact opposite. The graceful movements conveyed her duplicity and maliciousness with an ease that made one wonder if, like the swans in the play, Natalia is two different people.
The last act conveyed the desperation of the lovers and the malevolence of the magician, who would do anything to make sure that Odette could not break out of the spell. Kozarezov Andrii, who played Rohbart, was certainly in his element as he swooped and jumped across the stage aggressively.
While the music and the performances were spectacular, another thing that drew one’s attention was the stage. Set up with huge paintings to give the impression of the interiors of a palace and the lake side in different acts, these were like murals. Certainly a weekend treat that will stay with me for some time.