HQ Review: St. Louis Ballet’s “Swan Lake”
Saint Louis Ballet presented Swan Lake at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the campus of the University of Missouri—St. Louis from April 28-30. This production of Swan Lake was noteworthy for Saint Louis Ballet because it was originally part of the 2019/2020 dance season that the pandemic forced to an early end before Swan Lake could take the stage. The 2022/2023 season not only put Swan Lake back onstage, but it did so with live orchestra music for the first time in the company’s history, provided by the Springfield Symphony Orchestra.
The ballet begins with a short prologue that shows Prince Siegfried and Princess Odette, the story’s protagonists, playing together as children. While playing, the evil sorcerer Von Rothbart kidnaps Odette. Siegfried, helpless to do anything except fetch his mother the Queen and watch Von Rothbart sweep Odette away under his massive dark wings, is devastated.
Scene 1 of Act 1 transports the audience to an upcoming celebration in a garden near the castle, several years after Princess Odette’s capture. Prince Siegfried is now a young man and heir to the throne. Over a dozen castle ladies, castle gentlemen, and peasants have gathered in celebration of the Queen’s and Prince Siegfried’s anticipated visit. The dancers’ lively footwork, soaring lifts, and enthusiastic presence accompanied by Tchaikovsky’s sweeping score captured the excitement in the garden as everyone awaited the arrival of royalty. During the evening performance on April 29, the dancers’ contagious joy in the first waltz piece demolished the fourth wall and reached the attentive audience who began applauding loudly before the piece had concluded.
Prince Siegfried enjoys these festivities with his mother and his tutor, and he appreciates the crossbow that she gives him. However, she dampens his spirits when she tells him that he must choose a wife at his upcoming birthday ball, rather than marry for love. Disappointed at this news, he stows away to the woods to hunt with his new weapon.
The story continues in Scene 2 at the lakeside in the woods. The lakeside is dark and cool, and the lake itself looks like the smoothest sheet of blue glass under a low fog gently hovering above it. A flock of white swans are the only inhabitants of this tranquil refuge, portrayed by 16 ballet dancers, made up of both company dancers and trainees. They wear white platter tutus accented with silver feather outlines and white feather headpieces in their hair. The swans’ fluttering hands, outstretched arms, brisk footwork, and precise unison of all of these movements depict their animal characteristics in graceful fashion. The “Dance of the Little Swans”, later performed by four swans in a horizontal line holding hands, displayed breathtaking synchronicity of rapid footwork and sharp head movements contrasted only by the calm poise with which graceful swans carry themselves. Throughout this scene and other scenes later in the ballet, the swans not only create one body of breathtaking art using multiple bodies onstage in their straight lines, they also play their parts in the overall story and interact often with other characters onstage.
Little does Prince Siegfried know when he arrives at the lakeside during his hunt that Von Rothbart’s evil sorcery has tainted this peaceful setting. These swans are maidens upon whom Von Rothbart has cast a spell. Princess Odette, whom Von Rothbart captured several years prior, lives among these swans. Thankfully, Siegfried recognizes Odette among them. He orders his fellow hunters to stop hunting, who then leave the lakeside.
Prince Siegfried and Princess Odette express their deep longing for each other as they dance a pas de deux together to a lilting solo violin and soft flute music. At times, Odette flies with her legs in a split and her arms stretched up like wings, like the beautiful swan that she is, as Siegfried lifts her over his head throughout the piece. Siegfried promises to declare his love for Odette at his upcoming birthday ball, which would then break Von Rothbart’s spell and transform her and her fellow swan maidens into human beings again.
Act 2 opens at Prince Siegfried’s ball in a majestic hall at the castle, which sets the celebratory tone for this one-scene act. Among the numerous guests from various countries dancing and celebrating is Von Rothbart in disguise and his daughter Odile, whom he has made to look identical to Princess Odette and looks like a black swan. (In actuality, the same dancer is performing both the roles of Odette and Odile.) Siegfried mistakes Odile for Odette. They dance to livelier music with the full orchestra compared to the softer music at the lakeside. Von Rothbart keeps a close eye on Siegfried and Odile as he casually strolls around the hall and sits on a throne next to the Queen, his sinister intentions apparent to the audience with each evil gaze and constant observation of Siegfried and Odile’s interactions. Immediately after Siegfried mistakenly declares his love for Odile instead of Odette, Von Rothbart reveals to Siegfried that the real Odette is outside the castle. Horrified, Siegfried flees the ball to try to undo his horrible mistake.
The beginning of Act 3 takes the audience back to the lakeside, which still appears as serene as it did in Act 1. Prince Siegfried finds Princess Odette and apologizes to her. Von Rothbart appears at the lakeside shortly thereafter and tries to kill Siegfried. A battle ensues, portrayed by Von Rothbart’s powerful leaps and wing gestures and Siegfried’s jumps and floor work as the music builds to a thunderous crescendo. Siegfried falls off of a cliff during the fight. Odette flies off the cliff after Siegfried to try to rescue him. The flock of swans gather in formation to muster their collective strength to defeat Von Rothbart, and he falls to his death from the top of the cliff. His evil spell is broken. White feathers gently float down from the sky, representing the feathers that the swan maidens are shedding now that they no longer live under Von Rothbart’s power. Odette and Siegfried survive the battle, and Odette can live her life as a human with Siegfried.
For each performance of Swan Lake, Saint Louis Ballet took audiences on a journey for a few hours in which everyone watching could escape from the present world to a time and place where true love exists, where good conquers evil, where beauty surrounds everyone and everything, and where music and dance are seamlessly woven into daily life. Swan Lake showcased intriguing storytelling, outstanding live music, breathtaking scenery, and exquisite dancing that brought the audience to its feet and infused joy into everyone’s hearts.
Photos by Kelly Pratt
