This was my first ballet and I was afraid I'd be terribly lost without words but I managed to survive in one piece, but scratching my head a little. I know very little of Swan Lake, except the music as I performed a selection during marching band so the music was familiar. And I adore the movie Billy Elliot.
Has anyone seen the traditional version of Swan Lake? In this version there is a Prince who is starved for his mother's affection and decides to end his life but meets the swans in the process. All the swans are male and since this is a love story there were homosexual overtones between The Swan and the Prince. But since I have no idea who's supposed to be male or female it was all greek to me. I tried to figure it out that maybe the swans were supposed to be girls, but then that clashes with Billy Elliot because at the end of the film he performs in Swan Lake and he was dresssed like a swan. I'm confused
In any even the music was beautiful and the dancing was amazing.
themary wrote:This was my first ballet and I was afraid I'd be terribly lost without words but I managed to survive in one piece, but scratching my head a little. I know very little of Swan Lake, except the music as I performed a selection during marching band so the music was familiar. And I adore the movie Billy Elliot.
Has anyone seen the traditional version of Swan Lake? In this version there is a Prince who is starved for his mother's affection and decides to end his life but meets the swans in the process. All the swans are male and since this is a love story there were homosexual overtones between The Swan and the Prince. But since I have no idea who's supposed to be male or female it was all greek to me. I tried to figure it out that maybe the swans were supposed to be girls, but then that clashes with Billy Elliot because at the end of the film he performs in Swan Lake and he was dresssed like a swan. I'm confused
In any even the music was beautiful and the dancing was amazing.
The very first ballet I ever saw was the Royal Covent Garden Ballet's version of Swan Lake. I was enchanted and enthralled and have loved "the dance" ever since.
The version you saw sounds interesting. No women dancing? Were the swans really men dressed as swans? You would know, you know. Women dancing Swans are very obviously women, with tutus and decolletage, etc. If they were men, what were they wearing?
I don't know Billy Elliot. I guess I'll have to watch it to figure it out. He dances in Swan Lake, a boy dressed as a swan? What was he wearing?
eta: So I webcrawled a bit and found this: Manly Swan Lake I would REALLY like to see this, if it ever comes my way!
I briefly looked at that article but that's the one I saw.
First, are the swans supposed to be women?
In Bourne's version the swans were all men, intentionally, as oppossed to men, playing women. They wore long feathery capri-length pants and were bare chested, they had the tell-tale black mark of the swan on their foreheads, and were dusted a creamy white color.
There were females in the show. The Queen and the girlfriend and there were a bunch of women during the ball.
The pas de deux between the Prince and both the Good (White) Swan and the same dancer dressed in black and being the Evil Swan are the most famous pas de deux in ballet.
vison wrote:Yes, the swans are supposed to be women.
The pas de deux between the Prince and both the Good (White) Swan and the same dancer dressed in black and being the Evil Swan are the most famous pas de deux in ballet.
Well there ya go then! That explains a lot for me All Swans were male as was the Prince ( ). I didn't know there was a "good" and "evil" swan but that makes perfect sense. Hello white swan, black swan it's so obvious now
In the begining the Prince met this girl who was a complete flake and the Queen did not like her. The Secretary (or the Queens right hand man) met the flakey girlfriend at some sleezy bar and gave her a wad of cash for some uknown (to me) reason, which the Prince witnessed and was hurt by. What in the world was the girlfriends role? Because she appears again during the Black Swan ballroom scene.
vison wrote:Yes, the swans are supposed to be women.
The pas de deux between the Prince and both the Good (White) Swan and the same dancer dressed in black and being the Evil Swan are the most famous pas de deux in ballet.
Well there ya go then! That explains a lot for me All Swans were male as was the Prince ( ). I didn't know there was a "good" and "evil" swan but that makes perfect sense. Hello white swan, black swan it's so obvious now
In the begining the Prince met this girl who was a complete flake and the Queen did not like her. The Secretary (or the Queens right hand man) met the flakey girlfriend at some sleezy bar and gave her a wad of cash for some uknown (to me) reason, which the Prince witnessed and was hurt by. What in the world was the girlfriends role? Because she appears again during the Black Swan ballroom scene.
I can't say without reading more about it. Bourne has changed the story a bit.
Well nuts. I wanted to avoid Googling Swan Lake because I like having discussion. Would you mind giving a brief summary of the Swan Lake you know vison? Or providing a linky with a description?
I swear I'm not being lazy I'm just looking for conversation instead of using Google and being done with it.
My goodness is it different!!! I'm gonna have to read a synopsis of the Bourne version to see what I missed because there are massive diffrences in Bourne's version besides the homoerrotic addition.
I love Swan Lake - it is my favorite classical ballet and Tchaicovsky's music is beautiful.
The version with the male swans is kind of interesting - the New Yorker Magazine did an article on it when it was first conceived. I have never seen it, but I'd love to...I think it would be beautiful (plus - all those bare-chested, lithe male dancers...hubba-hubba!)
And I love that scene at the end of Billy Elliot, when he leaps onto the stage as a swan and his Dad looks on in wonder.
"Live! Live! Live! Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!" - Auntie Mame
Oh me too Jewel it gives me goosebumps everytime!!!! But now the scene in Billy Elliot confuses me because if all the swans are supposed to female and Billy at the end is a male swan does that mean he was in Bourne or Bourne-style production?
Yes all those men without shirts was very easy on the eyes, yowzah!!
Btw, I have seen the Bourne production. It was interesting as an oddity. I still prefer the classic interpretation. I was lucky enough to see Margot Fonyten and Rudolf Nureyev (sw00n) dance Swan Lake ( Romeo and Juliet and the entire Sadlers Wells repertory) one glorious season in NYC.
We slept on the pavement outside the old Met waiting for the Box Office to open in the morning so we could get first dibs on standing room tickets.
Ah youth!
Ever mindful of the maxim that brevity is the soul of wit, axordil sums up the Sil:
Sassafras wrote:I was lucky enough to see Margot Fonyten and Rudolf Nureyev (sw00n) dance Swan Lake ( Romeo and Juliet and the entire Sadlers Wells repertory) one glorious season in NYC.
Wow!
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
Wow Sassy I won't even pretend to know how cool your performance was, but it sounds impressive!! And since you too have seen the Bourne version would you mind giving me your interpretation of the ballet? I'm confused by the Secretary and girlfriend's role. I don't see how the Secretary relates to the "Black Swan" like the villian (can't recall his name ) relates to the Black Swan in traditional versions.
hal how do you think Bourne's version goes along with the theme in Billy Elliot?
There was one very good (IMNSHO) modern adaptation missing from the Wikipedia article that I have seen: one by the Swedish group Ballet Cullberg, choreographed by Mats Ek in 1987.
I've seen at least three different choreographies of the classical version, and Bourne's version sounds quite interesting.
See the world as your self.
Have faith in the way things are.
Love the world as your self;
then you can care for all things.
~ Lao Tzu
All Swans were male as was the Prince ( 
). I didn't know there was a "good" and "evil" swan but that makes perfect sense. Hello white swan, black swan it's so obvious now 
I'm gonna have to read a synopsis of the Bourne version to see what I missed because there are massive diffrences in Bourne's version besides the homoerrotic addition.
) relates to the Black Swan in traditional versions. 
