Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
June 10-16, 2004
dance
Swan Lake
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There was much ado about Christopher Wheeldon's new Swan Lake production and it turned out, for once, to be about Something. The choreographer managed the impossible, keeping all the classic's famous moments and yet creating something magnificently, even wildly, original for Pennsylvania Ballet.
The curtain rises on an elegant, neutral-toned 19th-century rehearsal studio that looks like Degas' famous ballet paintings with high windows, a ballet barre and huge mirror. Stretching, yawning ballerinas arrive. Their work of rehearsing Swan Lake begins, as does Wheeldon's multilayered "visualization."
The PAB dancers glowed on opening night after weeks of being burnished by Wheeldon. Zachary Hench dances Siegfried, through whose eyes the story unfolds. His Prince is something of a poet, slightly wistful yet very able to soar when necessary. As Odette-Odile, Riolama Lorenzo is a fragile and beguiling Swan Queen, who then transforms herself into a sensuous temptress as the Black Swan, whipping through the famous fouettes. Many dancers had outstanding moments, including a remarkable young man named Jermel Johnson, a company apprentice, who, in spite of nervousness, turned in a virtuoso performance with crystal-sharp principals Amy Aldridge and Martha Chamberlain.
For sheer invention, nothing topped Wheeldon's transformation of Act 3 from a ballet set-piece of national dances into a wild cabaret-like gala with tuxedoed gentlemen chasing after dancers. All the national dances are there but vive la difference. Amy Aldridge begins a Russian folk dance, elegant, beautiful, precise, then slowly begins removing her costume piece by piece. Tara Keating performs a Spanish dance in a red wig and green costume right out of Toulouse-Lautrec. Finally there's a cancan!
The villain Rothbart appears in every act, lurking in the background like old-time melodrama; Alexei Charov relished this tasty role, getting laughing boos at the curtain. The famous Swan variations are lovely, particularly in Act 4, where Wheeldon choreographs them dancing in concentric circles like Busby Berkeley musicals.
Wheeldon's swans get their revenge, killing Rothbart in the end! But the Swan Queen's enchantment is sealed, and she flies away. Brokenhearted Siegfried falls down grieving, then wakes in the dance studio, not at the lake. As dancers start arriving to continue rehearsal, he sees a white swan in their midst. A dream? A hallucination? Everyone must decide for themselves.
PAB's likely to think differently about itself as this production settles into its permanent repertory. Chris Wheeldon did a lot more for PAB than just give it a signature classic ballet.
SWAN LAKE - Through June 13, Pennsylvania Ballet, Academy of Music, Broad and Locust sts., 215-893-1999
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