The Queensland Ballet’s production of Swan Lake premiered in December, 2008, marking 10 years for Francois Klaus at the helm. Now with only two years to go before he steps down as artistic director, this will arguably be seen as his most ambitious work for the company.
In this Swan Lake Klaus redraws the story-line completely, retaining key parts of the Petipa/Ivanov original, specifically Act II and the Act III pas de deux, while using them as a metaphorical framework for the story of Mathilde Kschessinska, Russian prima ballerina at the Maryinsky Theatre, and her love for the future Tsar Nicholas II.
Parallels between the Siegfried/Odette love story and the ill-fated affair between Nicholas and Kschessinska can be easily drawn, and the setting in pre-revolutionary Russia offers colour and drama. However Act II, where Nicholas and (his betrothed) Alexandra, watch Kschessinska perform the role of Odette, becomes in effect a ballet within a ballet, somewhat reducing the dramatic impact of the iconic original, and as the work’s primary reference to the 19th century classic, almost challenging the legitimacy of its claim to the Swan Lake title.
Quarrels with dramatic construction aside, this remount is stronger on several fronts, most notably the addition of three new principal dancers, boosting their ranks to six and therefore offering three casts.
Clare Morehen reprises the role of Kschessinska in the first cast, and has grown technically and artistically in the intervening years, delivering a more mature interpretation of what is otherwise a rather thinly sketched character. Her Odette particularly, is beautifully and thoughtfully drawn, with immaculate phrasing, an elegant long line and fluid arms.
Newcomers Meng Ningning (Alexandra) and Hao Bin (Nicholas), promoted from soloist within a few months of their joining the company earlier this year, share first cast billing with Morehen. Both dancers, already technically accomplished, are growing more dramatically assured as they settle in.
Meng is a winsome Alexandra, and in Act III shows an edgy brilliance in the Black Swan equivalent pas de deux, despite a delicate physicality far less suited to this role of the seductress than her second casting as Kschessinska/Odette. The fouettés, a little tense in the shoulders and travelling markedly to the left, were saved in a bravura finish.
Hao is a great asset to the company. Tall, and a true danseur noble in his restrained but dignified bearing, he is also a remarkable turner to the left – double tours landed spotlessly. His huge elevation, maybe even a little over extended for the space, shows glorious suspension and line.
The other new addition to the principal ranks, Keian Langdon, reprised the Rasputin/Rothbart role with elegance and precision. I wonder though, why he was not second or third cast as Nicholas.
Soloist Yu Hui, again as Dmitri, companion to Nicholas, gives a virtuosic performance of flying jumps and beats, including beautifully suspended and clean double cabrioles derrière.
Yu’s partner in the first act Neapolitan, (and also one of the four cygnets in Act II) Teri Crilly, is notable throughout for her warmth and vibrancy, while Lisa Edwards, another rank and file member, shows a gloriously extended classical line and soaring elevation as a Leading Swan.
In the second act the corps de ballet was well drilled, with immaculate lines and co-ordinated limbs, although some of their members lacked the necessary vitality and joy in the coronation ball of the third act.
I still find that the dramatic momentum of the work palls a little after the parting of Kschessinska and Nicholas (in an exquisitely poignant pas de deux), because of the lengthy introduction of new characters just before the ballet’s concluding moments. However, visually the end is superb, as is the whole ballet, with set and costumes by Graham Maclean and Noelene Hill respectively, and David Walter’s masterful hand on the lighting design.
An augmented Tchaikovsky score played by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Mogrelia, enlivened the Tuesday performance I went, and with the season all but sold out it promises to be a solid end to the year for Queensland Ballet.
– DENISE RICHARDSON