All images courtesy of Bolshoi Ballet
It’s been 33 years since the Bolshoi Ballet last performed Swan Lake in Toronto. Every bit as grandiose as you might imagine, their new production was worth the wait: the Moscow-based Bolshoi’s 2012 North American Tour features over 100 dancers. With a revised version of Yuri Grigorovich’s 2001 choreography and elaborate costuming and sets, Swan Lake is a mind-boggling feat of logistics, coupled with unparalleled balletic technique — the Bolshoi’s valiant attempt to lay claim to this iconic classic.
Based on Russian folk tales, Swan Lake opens with a celebration of Prince Siegfried’s birthday, at an old German castle that, in this case, more closely resembles the staunch interior of a gothic Russian church. Drenched in velvety hues of gold and brown, the set is daunting, impressive in size and ornate in detail.
Lured away from the court’s pleasantries to a mysterious lake by an evil figure, the Prince finds himself in a new and otherworldly place. Grey-toned scrims and cool lighting create a moonlit effect that is suddenly pierced by the entrance of the white swans.
Flooding the stage in droves, wiry, gaunt, and delicate in identical white tutus, the swans criss-cross the stage in perfect formation. Wave after wave enters in unison, their lightness and precision contrasting with the starkness of the set. A rhinestone-studded Prince Siegfried, clad all in white, finally lays eyes on Odette, and the two begin a breathtaking pas de deux.
Up to this point, the Bolshoi does a commendable job of crafting a technically proficient production, but it is only with the entrance of the swans and Maria Aleksandrova’s performance as Odette that their performance of Swan Lake crosses over into true artistry.
Aleksandrova is utterly ethereal. Her arabesques are slow and meditative, languid yet crisp. As Odette, she proves her mastery with a total embodiment of the white swan. Her brittle, fluttering arms quickly become wings, and her back arches into an avian shape. Accompanied by Tchaikovsky’s haunting score, her expressions are subtly moody, shifting from moment to moment as she captures both the physicality and the emotional complexity of her role. When she later changes back from the fragile swan into a woman, her movements are so confident and coy, her transformation so complete, it seals the success of the Bolshoi’s entire production.
As Odette and later her dark double Odile, Aleksandrova outshines every other dancer onstage, including her leading man, the Prince, performed by Ruslan Skyvortsov. The sets and costumes are no match for her performance, which not only wins the heart of the Prince but the audience’s as well.
For all their pomp and grandeur, the Bolshoi’s dancers have the chops to back it up, displaying incredible technical rigour. Yet somehow the skilled performances of the corps and soloists become merely a fine backdrop in a production that relies so heavily on the virtuosity of its leading lady.
Swan Lake
Bolshoi Ballet
May 15-19
Sony Centre for the Performing Arts
1 Front St. East
For tickets call: 855-872-7669
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