No Love on The Lake... At Least Not Tonight

Tonight was the opening performance of "Swan Lake" by the National Ballet of Canada at the Kennedy Center Opera House. I expected to see a familiar story in a different light with passionate performances by principal dancers, provocative choreography, and amazing costumes. Even the program notes promised "extraordinary range of emotional and psychological possibilities".


The beginning of this well-known fairytale of love and betrayal was quite unusual and very slow. For the first 40 minutes I thought I was watching "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" with Tchaikovsky's soundtrack. The prince Siegfried (danced by Aleksandar Antonijevic) was so indifferent to his surroundings that it was almost painful to watch. He did have a "trademark" smile on his face. He even kept it during the scene of the rape of poor Wench by his buddies and seemed rather unmoved by this whole incident. The only time he expressed emotions and passion was during the dance with his beloved friend Benno. The choreography of the Act 1 was dull and uninteresting, so were the costumes. The orchestra wasn't in its best form which added to my disappointment. When finally the beautiful Odette (played by Greta Hodgkinson) appeared in Act 2, I thought things would start getting better. I was wrong. With expression of pain, fear and maybe hunger on her skinny face, Odette made a few jerky movements of her head and approached the Prince. The White Swan looked undernourished and unhappy. The way she moved her entire body was unusually rigid and sharp-edged. There was no love in the air, not even chemistry. The Prince and Odette were both indifferent towards each other. (Probably he was thinking about Benno and more than likely she knew it.) She didn't even try to win his heart. The performance of the corps de ballet at times resembled the flock of Canadian geese rather then graceful swans.

The highlight of the first part was the "Dance of Little Swans" performed by four female dancers. It was a pleasure to watch. This dance received the warmest response from the audience.

I didn't anticipate a miracle after the intermission. I was wrong again. It was a completely different story. It looked like the dancers warmed up, so did the orchestra. The decorations and costumes of Act 3 and 4 were spectacular. Odile (Black Swan) was simply irresistible. She was seductive and sexy. Her movements were gracious and soft. No wonder the Prince showed not only his interest but also expressed a desire to marry the evil imposter of Odette. The dances of four "mail order brides" from Hungary, Russia, Spain, and Italy were beautifully performed by Rebekah Rimsay, Stacey Minagawa, Tanya Howard and Jilian Vanstone. The corps de ballet danced significantly better.

The well-choreographed dances and impeccable performances by the artists brought a nice contrast with the first part of the tonight's performance. The difference between the first and the second part was like day and night (or should I say white and black?) The audience was quite moved by the end of the performance and rewarded artists with a generous ovation.