Swan Lake by the National Opera Maria Biesu

Raphaëlle D.

Context with the war in Ukraine

I went to see the ballet Swan Lake atthe Palais des Congrès in Paris. However things didn’t go exactly as planned. Indeed, as the war between Russia and Ukraine just started, the Bolchoï Ballet of Moscow could not perform in France anymore and was replaced by the Moldavian National Opera Maria Besu. The impact of the war on the diffusion of Russian art is unfortunate but the Moldavian ballet did not disappoint. Moreover, we need to take into account the fact that the ballet’s score is by Tchaikovsky, a Russian composer. Therefore, Moldavian, Ukrainian, Belarus and Czech dancers performing to a Russian score is quite a beautiful symbol in such conflicting and hard times.

History behind Swan Lake

“Swan Lake” is described as a very “national” ballet. In fact, swans are very present in romantic Russian novels and the ballet’s choreography includes a lot of Slavic dances. It is also important to note that it is the first ballet with music written by a symphonic composer. Indeed, Tchaikovsky (who had never written a ballet score before) wrote the score between august 1875 and April 1876 and was very inspired by the leitmotiv technique (normally used by ballet composers) which consists of associating a song to a specific character or atmosphere. As surprising as it might sound, the first representations of the ballet in 1877 were catastrophic and the ballet underwent a lot of cuts and substitutions. It only gained success in 1895 thanks to Marius Petipa, an important figure in the history of Russian ballet. Sincethen, there have been many versions of the piece, coming back more and more to Tchaikovsky’s original ideas and not those of its first choreographs. It is now the most performed ballet in the world,more than a century after its creation, and it has inspired many different artworks, such as the movie “Black Swan” with Natalie Portman or the BTS song of the same name.

Summary of the ballet

“Swan Lake” is a beautiful fairytale about a prince named Siegfried and his beloved Odette. It starts one evening as the prince goes hunting and finds a group of beautiful girl-swans in the forest. Those swans are actually women that have been cursed by a sorcerer and turn into swans during the day. He falls in lovewith one of them, Odette, and swears that he will love her forever and break her curse. However, the dark magician finds out and decides to trick the prince bysending his daughter Odile, who has become Odette’s double, to the ball organized in the castle. The Prince first falls for the magician’s trick and chooses her to be his future wife before realizing his grave mistake. Once he does, he runs back to the lake to tell Odette he loves only her. He then defeats the evil sorcerer and breaks the curse, setting his beloved free.

Presentation of the National Moldavian Opera

The National Theatre of Opera and Ballet Maria Biesu wascreated in 1957. The Moldavian ballet is known for its authenticity as it keeps

traditional elements of classical dance while still adding Slav and Balkan elements. It is internationally recognized for the beauty and quality of its performances and has counted famous dancers such as Vladimir Vasiliev, Ekaterina Maximova and Nicolaite Tsiskaridze. It has also received numerous prizes. The ballet for Swan Lake consists of Igor Onoshko, Jan Vana and Artem Bankovsky for Prince Siegfried, LiudmilaUlanstava, Olga Golista and Oksana Bondareva for Odette/Odile, Andrieu Gura for Rothbart and Ion Breahna for the Jester.

My opinion

What I really liked about the ballet were the sets, which were splendid and completely fitted the atmosphere of the piece. For example, the decoration for the place where the prince and Odette meet is very somber, with just a moon shining inthe background and swans gliding along the surface of a lake. It really helped me feel more immersed in the ballet as the sets were all very imposing and awe-striking. Moreover, the costumes of the dancers were also very nicely done. I found the vivid pink outfit for the jester very appropriate for the character. The beautiful and elegant white dresses of the “swans” were also perfectly chosen and truly gave a “swan” look to the dancers. The colorful costumes of the people in the prince’s court also helped give life to the scene and embrace the movements of the dancers. My favorite dancers were the Jester and Odette who I found particularly good at bringing their character to life through dancing. In my opinion, the Jester was full of energy and was constantly making crazy jumps, meaning he stole the show every time he was on stage. With his bright costume and fun choreography, it was hard to take your eyes off him. Odette, on the other hand, wasgraceful, delicate and each one of her movements looked natural. The prima ballerina trulyembodied the “swan” : her arms and legs looked as light as a bird’s wings. She was also able to perfectly represent the sad emotions of the character who feels trapped by her curse and her dance was truly mesmerizing.

However, I also disliked a few things about the ballet. For example, the opening scene where we can see the prince and his court is a bit long and boring, with a lot of repeating movements. I also didn’t find that the dancers (who were not playing main characters) were completely synchronized and they did not form a completely united ensemble. This was especially true for the scenes where the court is present, since the ballerinas playing the girl-swans were much better. I think that the standards are really high for ballet and that the Maria Biesu Opera didn’t reach the precision and perfection that would have made the performance truly magical. Moreover, the whole character of the prince was underwhelming, from his costume to his performance. The dancer was good but you immediately forgot about him as soon as the Jester or Odette was on stage. Even though he was one of the main characters, he really didn’t stand out and his overly simple black and white outfit did not help. In addition, the orchestra was average; I felt as though the musicians were not adding anything to the piece. In my opinion, the music felt too “emotionless” and “cold”, not quite as grandiose as I had expected it to be.

Conclusion

Overall, I really enjoyed this ballet and I obviously already loved the score by Tchaikovsky. It was a nice experience and I would love to go see another ballet by the same composer. It wasn’t exactly “perfect” but in general it was still very pleasing to watch and hear. I hope that Swan Lake continues to be performed all around the world and that the art of dancing continues to shine through the dancers’ hard work and graceful movements