IU Ballet pirouettes into modern-day take on ‘Swan Lake’
By Nicole Brooks
Dancing “swans” will descend on an Indiana University stage this weekend, when the university’s ballet department presents its version of the classic work “Swan Lake.”
IU’s ballet is a modernized version of the classic fairy tale. Yet, it keeps the heart of the story intact, said Michael Vernon, chair of the ballet department.
Typically an extravaganza of 100 dancers, IU’s cast features a total just shy of 50. The costuming is a bit more of the times, and Vernon has condensed the ballet to two acts.
“My version is just a little bit more current, so it appeals to a larger audience,” he said.
Vernon said IU’s version “focuses on what’s really important to the story,” making the plot easier to follow. That plot is one of love and forgiveness. The ballet has thrived for 132 years.
Vernon said he enjoys condensing and updating classic ballets. He also feels it’s necessary. Today’s audiences are different, he said. They aren’t likely to sit through a four-act, marathon of a ballet.
Not to be thrown out with the bath water is the ballet’s original score. Peter Tchaikovsky’s music is a classic of the ballet world, along with his scores for “Sleeping Beauty” and “The Nutcracker.”
Some sections of the IU version of the ballet use what today’s fans of “Swan Lake” call the original choreography.
Czech choreographer Julius Reisinger is credited with creating the first version of “Swan Lake,” performed in 1877 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. His choreography was panned by critics. Many dance companies have presented their own versions of “Swan Lake,” and most are based on the choreography from the 1895 revival by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivano.
“This is such good training” for a dancer’s future, Vernon said during a recent rehearsal of that choreography.
Most dancers entering the professional world will start out in a company’s corps de ballet. And just as “Nutcracker” is a staple of most ballet companies, dancers will likely one day perform in the corps of “Swan Lake.”
Sixteen IU dancers make up the corps of swans, alongside four “big” swans and four cygnets — familiar roles for those who know the classic ballet.
“The major companies have 24, so that’s great,” he said of IU’s comparable roster.
“This is really the setting, so the jewel can sparkle,” Vernon added of the corps, which often serves as a moving backdrop for the lead swan.
That female lead role of Odette-Odile will be split between Demetria Schioldager on Friday evening and Juliann Hyde on Saturday.
Sections of IU’s “Swan Lake,” including the Black Swan pas de deux, were staged for the production by Cynthia Gregory. The former American Ballet Theater star’s interpretation of Odette-Odile is considered by many to be the ultimate example of how the role should be performed.
Gregory was in Bloomington for two weeks this semester to set the ballet. She will return for tech week, along with visiting choreographer Matthew Neenan, who created the second ballet of the evening.
Neenan is Vernon’s former student and a choreographer-in-residence at Pennsylvania Ballet. His contemporary work was created on IU’s dancers. It is set to music by Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich.
Vernon said the world premiere has a “Russian theme” and great “spirit between the dancers. It’s contemporary ballet at its best.”
The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music would like
to thank the Herald Times for permission to republish this review.
