Ray Boucher

I saw/skimmed parts of Marcia Haydee's "Swan Lake" via a YouTube video out of curiosity and I thought emphasizing Rothbart's character was interesting, as well as the use of music (like the 2nd pas de six variation for after the ballroom scene), but a couple of the dance numbers in Act I were transposed (why?). There is a lot to respect about the Sergeyev version (I saw a 2006 performance with Ulyana Lopatkina as Odette/Odile and Danila Korsuntsev on the 2008 Decca DVD) - it has terrific set design, and I like the Jester's dance - but I kind of feel that, like with the 1895 Petipa/Ivanov revival it was based on, some of the musical changes (Drigo's interpolations for Odile's solo {which is still used in many versions today}, the swan dance in the final act, and the slightly abridged music in the finale where Siegfried tears off Rothbart's wing {this version uses a happy ending}) don't quite do justice to the dramatic power of Tchaikovsky's score. Liam Scarlett's 2018 version with Nuñez and Muntagirov might just be my favorite Swan Lake, period. Great balance of both enhanced storytelling and dancing; Nuñez acts beautifully as Odette as well as Odile, she's a close second to Gillian Murphy from the 2000/2005 ABT DVD/production. I also really like the updated scenery and costumes, and the divertissements are terrific. (Plus, I love the Act III ending where Rothbart takes the Queen's crown and the black swans storm the palace after Siegfried's betrayal - that is my favorite Act III/ballroom act ending).

I'm not sure how easy or hard this question may be to answer, but I figured I'd ask it here. When producing Swan Lake, different choreographers tend to switch/change the order of some of the action/dances in Act III - more specifically the entry, and waltz, of the princesses/prospective brides, and the national divertissements. Many versions traditionally have the opening march, the waltz of the princesses, Odile and Rothbart's entrance, then the divertissements, pas de deux and the betrayal scene. As far as I know, the general Russian/Western tradition is that the brides enter, then after Odile arrives, the national dances happen. Other versions like Grigorovich's Bolshoi production, Nureyev's POB version, or Kevin McKenzie's ABT version have the divertissements before the waltz, Odile's entrance, and the pas de deux. Between these two choices (Choice A: waltz of the brides -> Odile's entrance -> divertissements -> pas de deux, and Choice B: divertissements -> waltz of the brides -> Odile's entrance -> pas de deux), which interpretation do you prefer? Generally speaking, I think both have their subjective pros and cons. Personally I really like the traditional structure (waltz -> Odile's entrance -> divertissements -> pas de deux) because in-universe I think it gives Siegfried and Odile time to spend some private time, and for their dancers, more time to prepare for their pas de deux), but some of the choreographers I mentioned earlier come earlier - specifically Grigorovich and McKenzie - manage to make the "Divertissements earlier" approach work well dramatically. In the Grigorovich one, Siegfried, Odile, and Rothbart (here called the Evil Genius) have a powerful dancing scene together, then Rothbart/Evil Genius has a solo of his own while the other two go offstage for a bit. McKenzie meanwhile has Rothbart dance a solo to the "Russian Dance" music to charm the court, which I think fits the mystique vibe he and Odile put on for the ball scene. But I'd be interested in hearing what others think of the ballroom act structure, though, because there are many ways to interpret the scene/act.

As a matter of fact, the Bolshoi version by Grigorovich uses the 2nd variation music for a scene between Odile and Siegfried after the former's entrance with Rothbart (or as he's named in Grigorovich's version, the Evil Genius), before their pas de deux. Grigorovich is also one of a few choreographers to use variation 5 for Odile's solo instead of the lighter music Drigo interpolated for the Petipa version (I prefer the darker mood of variation 5 for Odile since she's supposed to be an antagonist). I agree that the oboe in both variations makes it easy to identify with Odette since she's a major character in the story.

That sounds very interesting. I would like to see a dance equivalent of Ancestry.com too.

My first ever production was the Bolshoi Ballet Blu-Ray with Margarita Shrayner as Swanhilda (she is very funny in that role!), Artem Ovcharenko as Franz, and Alexey Loparevich as Dr. Coppélius (also quite goofy). Currently this is my favorite version with beautiful sets and costumes; the Waltz of the Hours especially wins out here, I like the patterns they make a lot and the variety of colors is exquisite. The second production I saw in full was Patrice Bart's version for the POB (Paris Opera Ballet) with Dorothée Gilbert as Swanhilda, Mathias Heymann as Franz, and even José Martinez as a younger and more handsome Coppélius (who splits his character traits with a new character, Spallanzani). One of my preferred Patrice Bart choreographies and interesting narrative change, but the pacing of Act I drags later on and I miss seeing the Act III divertissements. Third full performance I saw was by the Royal Ballet with Gary Avis as Coppélius and Marianela Nuñez. More traditional like the Bolshoi and good sets + humor (I particularly prefer the costume for the Prayer soloist), but I prefer the Bolshoi for its 3rd act specifically. Edit: I almost forgot the fourth performance video which I just saw - the DVD of the Kirov Ballet/Vinogradov version; overall, probably my least favorite/weakest Coppélia that I've ever seen. It's got good ideas + dancing and stands out in interesting ways, but I feel the rearranging of the music order and the sets to be a bit much and the story unclear in places (notably in the festival act, which is now the second act {the workshop scene is the second scene of Act 1}).

Ah, that's interesting to know. I'm surprised they had a solo violinist standing in front of the curtain communicating that idea because I'm used to solo players performing from the orchestra pit, but that is a neat concept. Which production was it?

In the POB version of TSB (the version choreographed by Rudolf Nureyev), the Prince's long dance is actually to the "Entr'acte" (No. 18) that is sometimes cut from Act II, probably indeed because of its length. I like the choreography to the pretty violin music personally but I prefer it when the "Entr'acte" is used either as a musical interlude between the panorama and the last scene of Act II or sometimes, like Peter Wright's version for the Dutch National Ballet, as a pas de deux for Princess Aurora and Prince Désiré at the end of Act II after the former is awoken. Also I don't blame people for thinking it's an interpolation that Nureyev did; the Entr'acte isn't used in every single version and even then some may use it differently. The "Entr'acte" was actually interpolated into Act I of George Balanchine's "Nutcracker" production which can get a little confusing when trying to figure out which song is from what ballet and so forth.

Hello. I share the same opinions on the "Sarabande" that you did; it's a very mellow and relaxing yet also mysterious song. Nureyev did indeed use it at the beginning of Act III before the "Polonaise" (where the guests and fairytale characters usually enter), you are correct. There are actually at least a couple productions I know that do use it differently, usually it's to a solo variation choreographed for Prince Désiré/Florimund in Act II (after the hunting party leaves, before he meets the Lilac Fairy). The Royal Ballet stagings use(d) choreography by Frederick Ashton for the D/F solo and pitched the song down (from A minor to F minor) and also abridged the song for time. Interestingly there was/is a Leipzig Ballet production that used "Sarabande" as a Désiré solo but it used the original key (A minor) instead.

Here are the productions that I've fully seen/watched: (Live) - National Ballet Theater of Odessa's version (Maria Polyudova, after Petipa, Sergeev, and Lopukhov) = 1st TSB production I ever saw in a 2019 tour; it was pleasant and had beautiful sets (particularly Prologue and Act III) but I remember a few songs/dances were missing (like the "Singing Canary" fairy variation) (Video) - Royal Ballet's version (2006 revival performance/2009 DVD; Ashton/Dowell/Wheeldon) = First video of TSB ballet I watched; generally a pleasant production, I like how Désiré/Florimund has an added solo in Act II and the costumes are excellent, but the DVD I watched is a bit on the "old" side when it comes to footage quality. - Bolshoi Ballet's version (2011 revival/2012 Blu-Ray; Grigorovich) = One of the most "grandiose" ballet productions I've ever seen in terms of sets and costumes, the dancing is really well done and this is the only one I've fully watched that has the Cinderella/Prince Fortune divertissement, but I feel like Grigorovich abridged/cut parts of the score a little too much. - Peter Wright's version (2003/2004{?} DVD; Dutch National Ballet) = The sets are a little too dark for my liking and it's hard to determine which fairies are which {I remember the Lilac Fairy variation being danced by another fairy} but this has one of my favorite Act III pas de quatres {all variations split between 2 ballerinas and 2 cavaliers} and the "awakening" pas de deux is gorgeous. - Matthew Bourne's version (2012 production; 2013 DVD) = A very interesting Gothic-styled and well-choreographed modern take on the ballet; I like the relationship dynamic between Aurora and the Prince's equivalent Leo but I miss some tracks from Act III which were cut here. - Rudolf Nureyev's version (I own the La Scala Ballet DVD but first saw a video of Nureyev's POB staging) = Another visually beautiful production with more male solos; I like the reinterpreted Act III pas de quatre as a pas de cinq, but I miss having one more divertissement and I prefer ending the ballet with the Apotheosis than just ending with the mazurka. - Australian Ballet's version (Maina Gielgud's version, 1993 performance/2008 DVD) = The costumes are very "maximalist"/80's (as a family member watching the video with me pointed out), though I love the pas de deux between Christine Walsh as Aurora and David Ashmore as Prince Florimund, and this version is tied with or may surpass the Bolshoi version's "wedding act" imo.

As far I know, the earliest I've seen the darker music used is with Vladimir Bourmeiester's version which first premiered in 1953; I guess this decision inspired Nureyev's Vienna staging and Grigorovich's version which both came in the 1960's-1970's. I suppose that interpretation in favor of the lighter music does work; personally I like to think of grand pas de deux variation music as reflections of the characters' inner feelings; to me, the darker music just feels more powerful/impactful in the "Rothbart disguising Odile to trick Siegfried into professing love for the wrong woman" context. But I'm open to different interpretations as long as they're handled well.

Agreed.

That's true, almost forgot about that. I kind of agree, the Petipa "Odile" variation does work the best in Neumeier's version. I do like the rest of Petipa's selections for the sequence, but I wouldn't mind seeing the alternative pas de deux music get a little more love/usage in some other productions.

I understand where you're getting at; personally I think the Petipa music and choreography are fine on their own, but the former more like a song you would hear for a kinder, less malevolent character (hence why I prefer the alternative music in the Grigirovich, Bourmeister, and 'Vienna' Nureyev versions). To be honest, the tone of the Petipa "Odile variation" music fits more in the context of one of the four (sometimes five) brides Siegfried would be expected to marry, if it was used in a sort of 'pas de quatre/pas de cinq' for the Brides in the ballroom act.

That's interesting to hear. As far as I know, a lot of other European versions still use Riccardo Drigo's interpolated piece from the Petipa version, aside from (again) Nureyev's Vienna production which I hope to get on DVD or Blu-Ray someday to watch (more specifically the newer staging).

Correct. It also seems like some productions that use the darker 'oboe' music vary in choreography a bit - Grigirovich's choreography is different from Burmeister's, for example. However I still see other Russian-inspired versions (for example, Vladimir Troschenko's version for the Moscow Ballet {see 26:08-27:30 for the solo} and Nadezhda Kalinina's version for Russian Ballet Theatre) that use Grigorovich's choreography to the oboe piece. Honestly I think the darker piece communicates both a subtle similarity (with the use of the oboe like in the main "Swan Lake" theme) and a clear difference between Odette and Odile, even though they're often interpreted to be different characters. I got to say though, Grigorovich's "Odile" solo choreography (with the turns and balance steps at the beginning) kind of feels like the ballerina's way of prepping for the 32 fouettés.