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As the lead programmers for the Colorado Ballet watched the highly-anticipated release, box office success, critical praise and near-Oscar triumph of 2010’s psychological dance thriller “Black Swan,” they must have seen, in addition to a fantastic and disturbing film, a perfect opportunity to capitalize on the unlikely cultural resurgence of the eminent but rather traditional ballet “Swan Lake.”
But the Colorado Ballet’s production of the legendary “Swan Lake” is far more than just a rehash of an old story taking advantage of a culturally relevant film rendition; rather, this is an exceedingly vibrant imagining of a classic that refines the work’s more traditional elements while incorporating modernized aesthetic design and special effects. The result of this combination is nothing short of mesmerizing.
The ballet opens with a familiar overture from the orchestra. Undoubtedly what you will first be struck by is the outstanding acoustic quality of the orchestral accompaniment, which is to be expected at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, but is impressive, nonetheless. Throughout the performance, the orchestra smoothly ebbs and flows with the choreography of the dancers, and the result is a musical dance not just between the individual on-stage dancers, but one with the pit members as well.
After the overture, the curtain opens, revealing a regal scene involving dozens of well-dressed members of the royal court attending rather lavish birthday festivities. The queen is in attendance, and several beautiful female suitors are dead-set on wooing the handsome and wealthy Prince Siegfried (Alexei Tyukov). The effect of the scene, with its huge set, big dance numbers, illustrious costumes and fanfare-style music is more sensory than emotional; this is a big act with stunning visual ingredients, but neither we (nor the prince) feel any real sentimentality for the magnificent gathering.
Such feelings are reserved until the second scene of the first act, which takes the audience to a far more minimalist (but still impressive) outdoor scene, near the seminal swan-inhabited lake. The prince’s emotional detachment from the opulence of the previous scene has left him feeling a bit lonely, and his friend Benno (Viacheslev Buchovsky) is intent on cheering him up with a good old-fashioned swan hunt.
It is at this point that the other principal dancer of the play, the beautiful swan queen Odette (Maria Mosina), makes her entrance. Any attention that may have been wavering, any eyes that may have been wandering, are now firmly and unrelentingly fixated upon Mosina, and will remain that way as long as she stays on stage.
As the white swan, Odette’s touch is graceful, with a type of restrained confidence that makes her as charming as she is breathtaking, and a brilliant white costume that contrasts crisply with the deep black of the night sky. As Prince Siegfried becomes hopelessly entranced, and as he falls further in love with Odette, so do we, the equally-entranced audience.
The various background dancers also cast a similar spell upon the audience. A four-person swan dance at the end of the second scene is one of the highlights of the entire performance. The scenes in which the villainous sorcerer Baron Von Rothbart (Gregory K. Gonzalez) exercises his power and forces his swan minions to move helplessly towards him are similarly jaw-dropping due to the perfect synchronization of the swans.
But enough can’t be said about Mosina, who is mesmerizing as the white swan, but impresses even more as she transforms into the black swan Odile, a deceitful creation of Baron Von Rothbart. Odile is, as to be expected, the thematic opposite of Odette, with an almost mechanical aggression that stands in stark contrast to the restrained gracefulness of Odette. At times, you’ll struggle to believe it’s the same dancer, but it’s still Mosina, and her mastery of both roles speaks to her undeniable versatility.
Indeed, versatility is the name of the game not just for the principal dancer, but for the production of “Swan Lake” as a whole, one that is a modern masterpiece as much as it tastefully pays homage to tradition, that is as emotionally affecting as it is visually enthralling. It’s a truly stunning achievment, and due to the new symbiotic relationship “Swan Lake” has with popular media, this is a production that will both please and create longtime fans of the ballet.
You can see “Swan Lake” at the Denver Center for Performing Arts until Sunday, Oct. 23. Tickets start at $20.
