Imperial Classical Ballet’s version of the timeless Swan Lake is full of dance and action

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Imperial Classical Ballet’s Swan Lake: Dancers and Orchestra of Imperial Classical Ballet / Nikita Suhik (conductor). Towngate Theatre, Basildon, Essex, 9.11.2024. (JPr)

A scene from Imperial Classical Ballet’s Swan Lake

Creatives:
Artistic Director of Ballet – Katsianryna Fadzeyev
Technical manager – Sergey Skachkov
Lighting manager – Yauheni Stankevich

Cast included:
Odette/Odile – Sofia Kozlova
Prince Siegfried – Askhat Tarikh

Swan Lake being put on at the Towngate Theatre in Basildon with an international cast and a live orchestra seemed a very unlikely proposition to me at first, even though I had seen a wonderful fully-staged Madama Butterfly (review here) put on there by the same organisation (under their original name Classical Ballet and Opera House). Opera, well ok, but ballet? I was thinking about the number of swans needed and whether athletic ballet dancers might begin their leap on one side of the stage and complete it by going off through the wings on the other side. The Towngate’s stage had deceived me and was much bigger than I ever thought, proving fully capable of showcasing a corps de ballet of 12 swans and 4 cygnets, as well as all the ballet pyrotechnics, notably of the men in the leading roles of Prince Siegfried, Baron Von Rothbart and the Jester.

I will use some of the Imperial Classical Ballet’s publicity to remind you of the story of what you get to see and how it is a tale of two young women, Odette and Odile, who resemble each other so strikingly that one can easily be mistaken for the other. Swan Lake is the compelling legend of a tragic romance in which a princess, Odette, is turned into a swan by the sorcerer Von Rothbart’s evil curse. Prince Siegfried chances upon a flock of swans while out hunting. When one of the swans turns into a beautiful young woman he is instantly captivated – will his love prove strong enough to break the evil spell that she is under?’

Beware of reading the synopsis in the glossy souvenir programme which suggests they were considering another production altogether and had Von Rothbart as the prince’s mentor who has a magical theatre with dancing swan-girls! This appeared to be confusing Swan Lake with Nutcracker which it is on tour with. In the end we get the highlights of a traditional Swan Lake with much of the very-recognisable chorography as passed down now to us since it was revived in St Petersburg in 1895 (after an 1877 premiere) and overseen by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. I guess about half-an-hour of what you might see elsewhere has been lost to bring the running time down to two hours, including a short interval. Nothing much that is important is missed and anyway I always moan that Act I – in most stagings – is too long!

There are backdrops of a forest (lurid green) for Act I, a moonlit (so very blue) floor of a valley with a distant castle on high for the lakeside acts and an opulent hall of a palace in Act III. The costumes are colourful and cosily familiar from other performances, with the swans in crisp white tutus. Considering how the company are on the move so much performing their two ballets and this visit to an enthusiastic packed-out Towngate Theatre was just for this one night, it was to the credit of all concerned how well it was staged and danced. Given the circumstances it would be wrong to seek perfection and anyway this Swan Lake was so much better than I imagined it might be. The corps of swans was well-drilled and the third act national dances (Neapolitan, Spanish, Czardas, Mazurka) were especially lively. I am certain in Basildon there were a number of first-timers to live ballet like this and I am sure many will be happy to come back again in the future to see this ensemble again.

A scene from Imperial Classical Ballet’s Swan Lake

For me one of the glories of the evening was the spirited – and quite atmospheric at times – playing of the small orchestra conducted by Nikita Suhik which the publicity and programme suggested had over 30 musicians in it. I have heard Tchaikovsky’s wonderful score played not as well as it was in Basildon by much larger orchestras in more prestigious venues.

Give or take that this Swan Lake hurried along and – overture and musical interludes notwithstanding – was all action and dance, the storytelling was generally clear; though by now I know what all the mime means. Of course, the Imperial Classical Ballet cannot deliver a depth of dance talent of any number of its rivals you might name, but in the end it just did not matter and after the ballet’s happy ending they got the ovation their commitment and talent deserved.

Askhat Tarikh’s lovelorn Prince Siegfried was a bit of a cypher and doesn’t get much to show-off with (apart from the Act III pas de deux) but he danced efficiently and partnered well. Sofia Kozlova was very affecting as Odile seeking release from her curse and was a suitably alluring Odette and completed the famous fouettés with accomplished ease. Two excellent virtuoso male dancers – whose names I have not been given – completed the quartet of leading dancers in this Swan Lake. One was whirling and leaping and chewing the scenery as Von Rothbart and the other twirling – and twirling – away and playing to the Basildon crowd as an overly present Jester, a figure especially beloved in Russian versions of this timeless ballet though not so much in the West.

I look forward to seeing the Imperial Classical Ballet again whenever they come back to Basildon.

Jim Pritchard

For more information about Imperial Classical Ballet please click here.

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