Report on Swan Lake

In this choreography research paper, I focus on the Swan Lake ballet composition in the year 1875. The dance tells a story of romance where a princess who turned into a swan. It is based on a Germany fairy tale. At first, it did not succeed in the first years of performance but this did not stop Tchaikovsky, the original composer, from performing it again and again in different Russian theatres. What made the dance hard was the composer’s music which was too complicated thus the dancers had difficulties to dance to the tunes. Since the original premiere through 1883, there were already 41 performances which indicate that even after the death of the original composer of the ballet, the dance continued to be performed in theatres.

Tchaikovsky said he was happy that his ballet composition continued to be performed and its original composition improved. One of the best choreography of the Swan Lake was done by Matthew Bourne in 2006. He was Tony Awards for the unique performance. He goes against the traditions of hosting female as tutus and in his choreography, he casts all dancers as male thus making his work as bold and fantastic. This creates a new interpretation and understanding and maintains the classical and modern appearance and feel. In this story, Kenneth demonstrates the dance whereby the princess is under the spell of the magician. The prince shoots her in order to rescue her from the spell. When the prince goes hunting later with Benno, his friend, Odette appears as a human princess and this makes Benno jealous and abandoned.

The performance is seen later where the magicians work his power and turn him into a black swan. To be precise, Kenneth Greve’s choreography had specific movements which made a lot of sense to the modern dance and stage production. During the dance, it is observed that the princess dances with strong but reluctant arms towards the prince. Towards the end of the dance, her movements seem relaxed, sensitive and softer. The prince, on the other hand, has soft long jumps with elegance. The whole staging dance shows plain, unified and controlled movements. This will create the harmony and feeling of trust towards the other dancers to do best. In Matthew Bourne’s choreography, he believed that the male dancers will perform well.

He did not doubt that changing the dancers’ perspective would interfere with the performance. Instead, he works with them and in fact, brings out the original composer’s mentality on homosexuality. Research shows that Tchaikovsky believed in homosexuality which according to him was ok but for the Russia state at that time, it was highly discouraged. He believes his view of the swan lake will reflect on male swans being stomp and kick to the extent they might eat their prey. Thus their body motions are vibrant, vital and energetic. He demonstrates his desire to let ballet back into the culture of kicking and screaming if need be. Thus he brings a great deal of humor in Swan Lake. In Kenneth‘s choreography, it is observed that dancers are of a mixture where both male and female.