atm711 Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 My current favorite Swan Queens have come from the ranks of American Ballet Theatre, the Bolshoi and the Kirov and not from the New York City Ballet. Recently a poster on Ballet Alert enthusiastically wrote about Miranda Weese and I thought it was time for me to go back for another look at my video tape of Ms. Weese in the Peter Martins production. Martins has presented the ballet with one intermission; Acts 1 and 2 and then Acts 3 and 4--no criticism on this. However in Act 1 there is an excessive use of the Jester to the detriment of the Prince, he (the Prince) sits in a chair for most of the Act. True, he is there to be entertained by the Courtiers, but he is too disengaged. The very least the Choreographer could have done for his Principal Dancer is to give him a solo at the end of the Act much as Rudolph Nureyev did in his version. It was a beautiful, lyric, melancholy solo which reflected the Prince's state of mind and set the tone for Act 2; and it also gave the "star" dancer "something to do". Miranda Weese is a dancer with lovely shapely legs and a strong trechnique. She was a high-strung Swan Queen with few moments of serenity, which made for a gripping performance. My reservation is with her port de bras. The upper arms and shoulders were mostly stationary; she interrupted the flow of her line by 'breaking' her wrists and fanning the air with her splayed fingers. This was constant; she NEVER stopped fluttering her hands---in all three acts; her hands appeared to have a life of their own. Could this be a style encouraged by the New York City Ballet? The sets were too cold and icelandic. (I missed the German forest.) The Act 1 backdrop could have been an abandoned fort instead of a castle, and the later set was reminiscent of a monastery. I found Martins ending to be very poignant;--Odette was doomed to be a Swan forever and the Prince (who did not die, or go through a c Link to comment
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