Barbie in Swan Lake

[Dance_Scholar_London]

I was watching Barbie in Swan Lake a couple of days ago and was wondering about the ballet scenes. Do they objectively reflect ballet steps - it seems that Barbie has a bad turnout although she knows her steps! I would be delighted to get some opinions about Barbie as a ballerina. Should Barbie be animated in a ballet movie? Will she inspire young girls to become a ballerina? Or does she represent an unrealistic image of the ballet world?

[Mel Johnson]

Of course she knows her steps, but the animation is flawed in that the "wire-module" figure that was used to build the final figure in that it moves in the way that ordinary people move, and in the way that the doll is articulated. Barbie, even in the ballet model, does not have much of any turnout.

Choreography for this cartoon was blamed on Peter Martins.

[Dance_Scholar_London]

Mel, I have concerns about the educational aspect of this Barbie animation. Actually, it reflects a highly unrealistic world of ballet. Young kids are dancing on pointes, commented by a girly voice "Look how she can dance on her toes".

In her previous animation "The Nutcracker", the educational value is also doubtable as the computer-animated film does not reflect a healthy training method. In the final scene of the Nutcracker, Barbie and Shelley, who is apparently not older than five or six years of age, are dancing together in the ballet studio. Although Shelley dances 'only' on demi-pointe, they perform the same step combinations such as pas de chat, pas de bourrée and even pirouettes. Every serious ballet dancer knows that it will take a couple of years of disciplined training to perform in a way that is reflected in this production.

From an aesthetic point of view, is it reasonable to put Barbie and her friends on pointe or would it undervalue the art of ballet? In every ballet book it is argued that too early pointe work will lead to severe health problems... Is Mattel Entertainment simply not aware of ballet technique or is the aesthetic pointe work more important than health? :cool2:

[gsmom]

This is interesting...the whole idea of ballerina Barbie, to me, is somewhat funny. Maybe the intent is simply to tell the Nutcracker story to a younger generation ? My thought is that if this can be a "cartoon" that can show kids art and/or even inspire kids to want to get involved in ballet themselves, does it really matter (that much) about the level of technique that Barbie and friends use ? :shrug: Just my two cents...

[Alexandra]

Dance Scholar London -- I think a lot of people share your concerns! Another practical one is when the kids who love the Barbie Swan Lake see the ballet in the theater (although many productions are at least as silly as the Barbie one, in different ways) they'll cry because there are no cute little furry animals. Or perhaps the next generation of Bad Swan Lake productions WILL have cute little furry animals.....

[Mel Johnson]

With the state of animation being what it is today, it wouldn't have been any more difficult for the animated figures to show proper technique than it would to use the stuff (not really ballet) that they do in the Barbie ballet animations. They could even fall back on an old, old technique called "rotoscoping" where animation is done OVER actual video of real dancers dancing. That way, unrealistic encouragements and examples wouldn't be possible, as the animation modules were actual persons.

[Hans]

Well Alexandra, ABT has a big furry swan... :green:

[Alexandra]

I think we should investigate that swan. It's got an awfully short neck. Looks more like a duck to me, masquerading as a swan..... (For those not familiar with the production, Hans and I are referring to the Bad Von Rothbart's stuffed toy swan, not any of the ballerinas who dance the role.)

[Leigh Witchel]

Actually it looks like a bagpipe to me. Now THERE'S a new idea, sure to kick Swan Lake's butt into the 21st Century! The evil von Rothbart starts skirling a tune on his stuffed swan. . .

Yup. That's it. I say it's a bagpipe.

[stinger784]

Hey Hans. Ian from KAB here, good to see your sarcasm is still with you. Yeah, I saw ABT's Swan Lake and the costumes for Rothbart were just hideous. He was either Swamp Thing from that great 70s movie (correct me if I'm wrong), or perhaps he was a stone gargoyle. I hope Barbie had a better representation to say the least.

Ouch!

[Hans]

Hi Ian. I'd definitely say it's Swamp Thing

Continuing on the subject of the cute furry animals in Barbie Swan Lake, one of my friends gave me the toy skunk--with a remote control. Yes, all I have to do is press a button on the pink and green controller and the little plastic skunk goes zipping about the room. Maybe that will be the next thing they use in the stage version, kind of like those Nutcracker productions that have remote-controlled mice.

[Alexandra]

Does the skunk do anything else while it's zipping around the room? Is Eau de Skunk implicated, perchance? (the next generation of toys)

[carbro]

:offtopic:

A toy store in my neighborhood used to have one of those cute, pink, battery-run pigs chained up outside. When my dog first encountered it, she hit the play pose, barked, and (speaking of smells) sniffed its rear. I can't imagine what she was thinking when she failed to find whatever it was she was looking for!

Maybe the pig could have found a role in some ballet or other. While some suggested that my dog (Loretta) might have aspired to appear in Giselle Act I, I always thought she was more well suited to the Donkey in Union Jack.

[Hans]

Unfortunately, it just rolls around on its little wheels, but I'm sure the next version will speak (and possibly spray).

Carbro, that's such a cute story

[sandik]

... I saw ABT's Swan Lake and the costumes for Rothbart were just hideous.  He was either Swamp Thing from that great 70s movie (correct me if I'm wrong), or perhaps he was a stone gargoyle.  ...

(watch it -- I like bagpipe music.)

Rothbart is always a challenge for designers, and frequently they seem to go crazy. The new Pacific Northwest Ballet R has a thing for hats (including an elaborate shako style in act 3 with feathers) and a very large cape that he manipulates with sticks extending his arms (a la Loie Fuller) That can actually work very well, but it hovers close to overdone.

The new Pennsylvania Ballet's R is transformed from dandy to a kind of tattered beggar in the white acts -- very odd choice.

R and the court is one place that designers actually have a large number of choices (the white acts usually have to look like swans) which may explain some of the more wacky decisions.

ps. Although creatures from the swamp have been a staple in cheap horror films since the mid 40's, (Creature from the Black Lagoon was 1954), the actual "Swamp Thing" film by Wes Craven didn't come out until 1982.

http://www.imdb.com/find?tt=on;nm=on;mx=20;q=Swamp%20Thing

[rg]

say what you will about zack brown's 'swan' prop in ABT's SWANLAKE- i have no problem with it's 'being' a swan, not all swans have art nouveau necks and brown's has a perfectly acceptable one scale-wise etc. for a swan. (when the moment is properly lighted and played i find it effective, brian reeder played it very well indeed, part sinister, part sensual.) the point of mckenzie's use of the prop seems to me to address an important narrative detail (esp. if one is not familiar with the story) and one lost in many another production, i.e. that rothbart changes a woman into a swan and that when we see odette at the lakeside she's a woman NOT a swan, of which so many other productions seem to make a muddle. (i wish the lake in the background of the second scene also included prop swans, because that helps reinforce the swan/maiden transformation point.) the stanislavsky/demchenko version of bourmeister, complete w/ its own prologue (unnecessary in my opinion, but that's another matter) in which we see the bewitchment of princess odette and for which i believe bourmeister meant to show the audience a prop swan, staged the moment to show the transformed maiden as a tutued ballerina, thus making odette into a ballerina bird which contradicts the libretto in question.

i never saw ashton's prologue alas.

[Hans]

One of my problems with McKenzie's prologue (and especially the prop) is that Odette tells the audience exactly what happened in mime, thus rendering the entire prologue pointless, especially as it makes sense dramatically that we learn Odette's story from her when we (and Siegfried) meet her. As for making it obvious that Odette bourrées onstage as a bird and then changes into a human before Siegfried's eyes, that is up to the ballerina and her coach. The dancer must make the transformation obvious (not that it doesn't hurt to have swans swimming on the lake beforehand, as in the Kirov's version, so that Siegfried isn't just running around aiming at the stage wings).

[carbro]

Hans is completely correct here, according to me.

Another reason is that we learn Odette's story-- the whole ballet's story, in fact -- from Siegfried's point of view. All prologues are redundant.

[Treefrog]

In all the remakes of Swan Lake, has anyone ever told the story from Odette's perspective? Is this feasible? Is it the next Bad Swan Lake? Is it fodder for Summer Silliness?

[nysusan]

In all the remakes of Swan Lake, has anyone ever told the story from Odette's perspective?  Is this feasible?  Is it the next Bad Swan Lake?  Is it fodder for Summer Silliness?

Now wouldn't that be interesting. That would be a fascinating road to take the next time some choreographer feels the need to put their stamp on S.L. and decides that the Petipa/Ivanov choreography and original libretto need updating.

Riffs on the theme of a classic are welcome, it just pisses me off when they change the story and/or choreography and still insist on calling it Swan Lake instead of, say - "Odette's Dilema" or " Swan Lake in the Studio"!

[stinger784]

Going back to Rothbart's costume...

In Ballet Internationale, we go back to he old Swan Lake where Rothbart is none other than a domineering big, black bird which is most effective. The make-up of a Raven (let's say) is far more effective with proper face-emotions than a guy in a gargoyle fat suit used by ABT. Once in the ballroom, he is transformed into a human but keeps his black colors and make-up as to not confuse the audience into thinking that thier is a completely different person now controlling the Swan. In ABT's, I was confused as to why Rothbart suddenly became purple in the ballroom scene. His costume in no way whatsoever reflected the birdman he once was.

p.s. Thanks for the Swamp Thing info!

[Mel Johnson]

In the original libretto, he's an owl, which goes to explain what he's doing out at night. Bat might work too, as one of the Royal Ballet's design schemes had him. Flying squirrel and gerbil are right out, however.

[Hans]

Mel, I can just picture a frightened Odette miming to Siegfried that, "I was turned into a swan by an evil gerbil...." Or maybe an evil rabbit, something along the lines of Donnie Darko.

Editing to add: I just realized that opossums are nocturnal creatures, too. Just what we need: a hillbilly Swan Lake!