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Children in Act II


doug

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I can't remember if I've posted this or not, but what do you think of child swans in Act II? They were part of the 1895 production and the Royal used them for a while when their current production premiered. According to the Stepanov notations, they run on after Odette at some point and also dance in the big waltz with 24 corps swans, 4 little swans and 4 big swans. I suppose they would function like the students in MOZARTIANA, i.e., as little people, rather than as cute kids.

[ 08-06-2001: Message edited by: doug ]

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I love the idea of the little swans, but they would look better in longer tutus, since children's knees aren't usually straight. But it would have to be done in a very old fashioned way--no von Rothbart as a pedophile stuff! I also like a few black swans in the last act running around, just as an accent. I also want to cast my vote in favor of the traditional 4th act, though it can seem anticlimactic if there is an intermission after Act 3. I think rushing right to the lake keeps the drama going.

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I've seen a photograph of an old Royal Danish Ballet production of Swan Lake where children/students were clearly performing the dance of the little swans, which seems to me not a bad idea - I find the number terminally cute although it's clearly an audience favourite. I don't know exactly when the picture was taken but I would guess from the fact that one of them was Vivi Gelker - later Flindt - that it must have been no later than 1956/7 and probably a year or two earlier. Personally, I liked the retinue of baby swans, and the mixture of black and white tutus in Act IV. But I prefer all the female corps de ballet in long skirts for this ballet with just Odette in a short tutu.

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